


Chronicles of Vox Stultus Volume Two

by ReprobateGamer



Series: Chronicles of Vox Stultus [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Critters, D&D, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Dungeons & Dragons Campaign, Dungeons and Dragons, Gen, Post-Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Pre-Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Tal'Dorei, critical role - Freeform, webed&d
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:34:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25314661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReprobateGamer/pseuds/ReprobateGamer
Summary: After their encounters in the K'Tawl Swamp, Vox Stultus now traverse Tal'Dorei seeking more of the Elemental Temples. With a powerful foe seeking the same temples, and the ever present threat of the Clasp seeking them, the party must travel away from what they knew.
Series: Chronicles of Vox Stultus [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833598
Kudos: 2





	1. Episode 23 - Luris: Slaughter of the Plains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luris and his party have left Stilben and the K'Tawl Swamp behind them. They may have evaded the Clasp for now, but there are more dangers before them

The sweeping vista of the Dividing Plains rolled out to the horizon.

Luris closed his eyes and breathed in deep as the sun rose, it's dawn rays lighting the rippling grasses before him.

“Good to be back,” he rumbled. In truth, he had not travelled along this track, had not visited the stilt village of Brethir, raised up above the flowing waters of the Foramere waterway as it crossed the plains to the Owlset Bay. Behind him rose the mountains that separated the bay from the plains and which became the Stormcrest Mountain range as they headed west.

He had uttered a short blessing to the Changebringer two days ago when they had finally emerged from the sodden murk of the K’Tawl Swamp. Luris was glad to finally leave the swamp behind. They had spent much of the last few weeks in that murky morass, tracking down Bragor and aiding the village of Rickett’s Bog. And while in that dangerous wetland, they had missed Harvest’s Close; the rest of Tal'dorei celebrating the festival as they had made the arduous trek through the swamp. 

There hadn’t been time to make a late celebration either. The goliath glanced back at his companions around the low fire stoked up for the morning food. He saw the brooding form of Sabroth first. The aasimar looked much improved after the five day trek from Stilben; then again considering he had been dead, most things would be an improvement from that. Luris' gaze then passed to Lidgnut, grooming his beard out. Luris suspected that the dwarf had the connection to the Allhammer to undertake something of that magnitude. It was certainly only recently that Luris felt that he had properly connected with his own goddess. For that, at least, the journey to the Water Temple had been worth it for him. If ever he returned to his prior normality, the gift of darkvision she had blessed him with would make the journey’s across the Dividing Plains much easier.

Grunts of exertion made him look towards their newest member, the ravenite stepping through his weapon drills, occasionally his form flicking into that of the pale echo, his residue from his entrapment in time. Luris caught Sabroth watching as well, his eyes locked on the greatsword with a little envy. 

They had been able to retrieve some weapons from the Water Watch as Stilben’s guards attempted to block their flight from the city; as all of Sabroth’s belongings were somewhere in Clasp keeping. But the longsword Sabroth had at his side seemed small and out of place. Maybe they would be able to get him a great weapon when they reached the village.

A shadow passed across Luris and he looked up to see the last member of their little troupe. Sierra was perched upon her broom, checking the road before and behind them. The former Clasp member had taken to life on the road well, more thanks to her half-elf heritage than the landlady profession that had now likely been torn from her. She remained hopeful that what she considered to be her tavern would not be adversely affected by the sudden switch in her fortunes.

No wait, not the last member. Thazak was meditating next to Lidgnut. The dwarven monk was with them on his own quest - if the Temple of Fire did exist then it may have answers relating to the destruction of his home town, where an unending fire still burned. He had had it a little rough in recent weeks, with an infection of the iomenta pox whilst in the swamps; then had taken serious injury in the hasty departure. He was still favouring the side where a crossbow bolt had been lodged for a few hours until they had been able to properly take the time to pry it out.

It was a small group against the might and sheer numbers of the Clasp. That shadow enterprise had it’s criminal figures across the land of Tal’Dorei - the question was whether it was satisfied enough that it had driven them from it’s plans in Stilben? If not, then word of Luris and the rest was even now likely in the hands of those who shaped the Clasp and any major town large enough to have an underbelly would be dangerous. That said, they had not been able to determine what the Clasp were attempting with their altered wine so it was still possible that the failed attempt to storm the distillery was enough for the Clasp to deem it not profitable to chase them any further.

Or that the party would spend long enough pursuing Oreanna for the Clasp to move on to other pursuits. 

For now, they were headed to Brethir. Lidgnut, apparently raised in the area, had said to expect another two to three days of travel along this herding track.

He leaned over to snag some bacon cooking and bit down on it contentedly. No matter that their circumstances leaving Stilben were less than ideal, he loved being back on the road and definitely away from the humid air of the swamp.

***

They made good progress along the track. There wasn’t the indeed to obfuscate their tracks, as they had done in the few first days out of Stilben, choosing to remain in the swamp near the Silvercut Roadway rather than follow the road to reduce the chance of any of the Water Watch, or Clasp outriders catching them.

Hopefully the Clasp thought they were headed northwards back into the K’Tawl, or at the least were angling north to join the Silvercut nearer to the Summit Peaks. Only Bragor and Bruce, the ex Watch captain, knew of their plans to journey to Imrilhin, and they should be safely ensconced in the Everlight Temple in Stilben.

Luris was leaving the lookout to the rest; instead he was spending his days looping out from the party in search of the numerous rodents and ground birds that called the plains home. The pace was set by the dwarves so was slower than the goliath's normal gait though they did keep going. So far, the cook pot hadn’t gone empty, and there had been a bubbling spring that had provided a large bundle of watercress to supplement the caught meat, and their travel rations..

He had returned to the party as the sun reached its zenith and was with them as Sierra caught their attention.

  
  


“Something up ahead. Looks like bodies.”

  
  


They cautiously advanced forward, a caution that Luris all but abandoned as he saw the liveried bodies lying still on the track.

  
  


He cursed and headed forward. 

  
  


“Wait lad!” Lidgnut called

But Luris recognised the colours of the livery on two of the bodies. Two men, both human, lay sprawled in the dirt of the track, their life blood pooled and sticky under them. The vacant eyes clearly spoke to them being long past help, as did numerous deep cuts that flies were already buzzing around.

“You know them?” The dwarf asked.

  
  


“Not personally, but these are Shields of the Plain. Based out of Westruun.” Luris knelt between them and took hold of his symbol to the Changebringer. He couldn’t be certain of their personal faith; nevertheless he silently implored the Changebringer to allow them safe passage on their journey through the afterlife,

  
  


“Little far from home,” Lidgnut mentioned and Luris nodded.

  
  


“The Shields patrol the Plains as best they can but they are a small force. Didn’t think they would come this far south, particularly with the Ravagers.”

  
  


“Ravagers?” Sabroth asked, almost the first thing he had said since breakfast.

  
  


“Warbands of orcs, and goblins that have been roaming the Plains for years. They are amassing in numbers, with whole tribes joining the ranks.” He pointed to the faces of the downed militia, indicating the slash deliberately carved down one side of the face, splitting the right eye. “All followers of the Ruiner and all follow the tenets of destruction and chaos.” He regarded the two for a long moment. “I’ve had more than one close encounter with the Ravagers and they ascribe to a kill or be killed mentality, though, “and he smiled grimly,” they lack the patience for a long hunt, so they get bored if you can outrun them.

“But I’m surprised that any of the Shields are here.”

  
  


“What are these beasts?” Sabroth asked. Luris looked over.

  
  


“Plainscows. Native to the reason. Surprised to see them also. No wait, riders will bond with a particular beast so perhaps these were mounts for these Shields. Explains how they got here. Just not why.”

  
  


“There are tracks headed northwards. Only clear ones I can see are goblins,” Sierra was low on her broom a little ways from the road. “Can’t see anything nearby.”

Luris nodded then stood and picked up one of the bodies of the Shields, carrying it carefully to the side of the road then returning for the other. He laid them out with their short swords across their chest. A snapping sound made him look up and Lidgnut looked a little guilty as he held the head of the halberd that one had been wielding.

“Need to replace the metal that I used creating those extra darts for you,” he said, a little defensively. Luris just nodded; wherever these Shields were now, their weapons would be of no use to them.

Sabroth picked up a round shield thoughtfully.

  
  


“You’ll need to be careful lad, if you are planning to take that.” Lidgnut said. “The symbol of the Shields of the Plains is clearly visible on that.

  
  


Sabroth looked at him quizzically and Luris carried on.

  
  


“You obviously aren’t a Shield and anyone here sees you bearing a shield with their symbol is going to have questions. We here know what happened but no one else is going to.”

  
  


“Ah, I was just thinking of giving myself a little protection. I will obliterate the logo tonight once we rest.”

Luris went back to a silent communion then pushed himself upright and heaved the bodies of the plainscows next to their riders.

“Thought you were going to take some of the meat,” Sierra said wryly, watching him struggle.

  
  


“No. Trying to keep the way clear. I’ve stepped in decomposed plainscow and it isn;t pleasant. Though you make a good point.” As he wrestled the second beast to the side, he paused then pulled out a boning knife and set to work, swiftly slicing into the haunch and setting a few choice cuts to add to their food supplies.

Lidgnut finished off a cairn as a memorial and Luris added one of his own, giving one last prayer before they continued.

  
  


Up ahead they could see a sparse wood, with the track passing through the middle and they followed it into the wood, quickly losing the long view across the tall grasses that formed the bulk of the Plains.

They had only been travelling a short while when a building came into view through the trees. Set a little ways from the track, it was a largish inn with an adjoining stable. A thin wisp of smoke lazily rose from the single chimney; and beyond, the trees thinned out for what appeared to be arable land.

  
  


“Finally, an inn!” Lidgnut sighed. “It’s been days since we slept in a bed, or had a tankard of ale.” He strode towards the building, Dyblyg quickly overtaking him.

Thazak indicated to Luris,”Something feels a little hinky,” the dwarf said. “I’m going to have a look around.”

  
  


Luris nodded, “Take care. That Ravager attack was worryingly close, less than an hour from here.”

Thazak nodded back then headed away from the inn. Luris watched him go then turned back and followed the rest. 

Even before he entered the room, he could feel the tension. Dyblyg was standing by the bar that ran along the right hand wall to Luris as he entered. Lidgnut was standing, arms crossed as he glared at two human men who sat at a table in the far left corner, near the smouldering remains of the fireplace. 

  
  


“Don’t need your kind here,” said one, his voice cracking.

  
  


“Excuse me,” Lidgnut said loudly, “we’ve been travelling for some days and a pint would be most refreshing. Here seems as good as anywhere.” As he finished, Dyblyg’s echo flickered into the centre of the room, glaring at the two sitting farmers.

A third stood by the bar, apparently a little more into his cups from the slight sweat on his brow, his eyes not leaving the party as they entered.

  
  


Dyblyg turned back to the nervous looking barmaid, an older looking lady with short cropped hair. “We just want a round of drinks.”

  
  


Sierra looked worried. “Maybe we could continue onwards. Get a drink when we get to Brethir?”

  
  


“No, we are staying here,” Lidgnut said firmly and stomped to a table, plonking himself heavily into a chair. Sabroth sat next to him.

Dyblyg remained at the bar, watching the barmaid closely as she carefully reached for a number of tankards, pulling one pint after another.

  
  


“Don’t need your kind around here,” said the standing farmer, standing straight. “Why don’t you head off where you will be more welcome?”

  
  


Dyblyg replied though he didn’t take his eyes from the barmaid. “Perfectly fine here, thank you.”

  
  


“Think you’d be glad to have more of us here,” Luris said loudly, stretching up to his full height as he ducked under the door frame, “what with a Ravager attack just up the road and all.”

He moved over to the party but remained standing. Sierra looked ready to leave, her landlady instincts kicking in, but Lidgnut and Dyblyg looked equally ready to remain.

The atmosphere was tense and still, only broken by the mechanical movements of the bar maid as she filled the tankards and placed them onto a tray.

  
  


“No, no cha..arge,” she said, a little brokenly. “Just drink, quickly, and, and go.”

  
  


“No,” Dyblyg replied as he noisily pulled out a gold coin which he placed heavily on the bar. “I insist we pay.” He brought the tray over and Luris used his clanking form to hide casting a spell to detect poison, trying to determine just what was going on.

For sure, there were places around where the locals closed ranks against outsiders but he was getting the feeling that something else was happening here. Just because there was no poison in the drinks, didn’t mean that it was safe to be drinking here.

“Barmaid was looking at me, then down at something,” Dyblyg muttered quietly, thumping the tankards loudly to obscure his words.

Lidgnut began necking down his drink as Luris spoke

  
  


“Headed out to check on Thazak.” He left through the door, aware that the eyes of the humans followed him out.

Once outside, rather than headed towards the track, he instead turned to the side and headed for the stable. There was a window that looked down the length of the bar and he glanced into it as he passed. The barmaid was not looking and he was in any case partially obscured by a wild bush growing before it.

He paused at the stable door to listen for a moment. The door was thick and surprisingly well sealed for a country inn. His thoughts also whirling through his head so after but a cursory listen, he just pushed the door open and stepped in.

Even with his goddess blessed vision, it took a second for his eyes to adjust from the afternoon sun to the gloomy dark of the stables. The two goblins inside stared up at him, one picking through a pile of horse equipment, the other picking through the guts of the horse that the equipment had until recently belonged to.

There was a moment of perfect calm

Luris moved first. One of the goblins was before him pulling it’s hands from the ruptured belly of the horse but he was able to slide  _ Scalesplitter _ from its mount. The pointed head of the spear pierced the air as the goblin twisted it’s head to avoid the thrust, mouth moving into a mocking sneer as it raised a cruel dagger. Already extended, Luris snapped his spear sideways and slammed the haft of the spear into the goblins head, smashing its ear against its skull and channeling a blast of ki into a pressure point.

His follow up palm heel strike just pushed the stunned creature back a step as he deftly pivoted out of the stables, looking to regroup than to become outnumbered in the tight quarters, calling loudly “Goblins!, Goblins!”

There was the sound of motion from inside the inn and calls and yells.

  
  


“I’ve got this one. Sierra, get the other!” Dyblyg was calling as Lidgnut barrelled out of the door.

Lidgnut’s face was all the question Luris needed, and he gestured the dwarf towards the stable. Following in the dwarfs wake Sabroth overtook the stout Lidgnut and crashed through the stable door, disappearing into the building

  
  


Trusting that Dyblyg’s call was correct, Luris braced himself on one foot then followed Lidgnut, passing him back into the stable. Sabroth, longsword in hand, had engaged the further goblin whilst the one that Luris had hit was looking glazed. The goliath kept running and  _ Scalesplitter  _ plunged deep into the stunned goblins chest. It coughed up a splatter of dark ichor then Luris turned in and slammed his fist straight up into the goblins nose. It crunched into its face, bone exploding into its brain.

It dropped and Luris let it slide from his spear as he pivoted and headed towards Sabroth, who was stepping back from the goblin before him. Lidgnut was trying to get a clear line of sight to the goblin beyond Sabroth and the wooden wall of the stall it had been in and Luris went wide.

His attention was caught as Sabroth screamed and he turned. In shock he stopped as Sabroth’s eyes turned black, smoke trails left in the air as the aasimar reared back. There was a horrific sound of ripping flesh and a pair of skeletal wings erupted from his back, trails of the same black shadow, forming a dark space.

  
  


Lidgnut cursed and a wreath of sacred flame descended on Sabroth who turned and snarled at the dwarf as the radiant energy cascaded down his form. Luris’ eyes were wide; he could feel a primal fear overwhelm him and he backed away from Sabroth, channelling ki and watching in fear-ridden slow motion as Lidgnut turned and ran from the stables in panic. Luris had to fight his own urge to run to stay in the stables, desperately picturing the Changebringer in her divine glory in an attempt to steady his thoughts.

The dark angel before him brought the longsword around in an angry sweep. It should have taken the goblins head but the wretched creature was so fearful of the apparition that had manifested before it, it had sunk to its knees staring in horror.

“Ruiner, have you come for me?” it said in scratchy Common, eyes fixed in fearful awe.

The return sweep sliced across it’s chest; it rocked but it’s eyes did not leave their adoration.

Almost as rocked by this creature's sudden worship, Sabroth paused. Luris found his centre and leapt forward, thrusting the spear tip low into the creature's belly. He paused for one second then lifted a leg and his foot crunched into the goblins skull, slamming it into the wooden partition behind it. 

Despite the wounds, the goblin continued to stare unabashed at the fallen aasimar before him until Sabroth raised the sword and cleft him from the collarbone to it’s sternum and the eyes went vacant., necrotic energy tearing at the fatal wound.

Sabroths own eyes were still black, smoky pits, unnerving Luris still a little as they traded glances, hearing commotion from within the main bar.

“C’mon!” Urged Luris and they took off running. The monk was just ahead as they entered the bar at a dead run to find things had obviously been happening.

The barmaid was perched in a chair near the door, pale and nursing what looked to be a deep stab to her stomach. The three other drinkers were cowering under tables, their eyes locked in fear at the door to the rear of the bar area.

Lidgnut stood, braced on the bar, facing the same direction, warhammer at the ready. Dyblyg was half-slumped against the rear of the bar, a couple of nasty wounds bleeding. Sierra appeared to be missing.

The door to the rear was ajar; whatever was in the room beyond was big, a bass roar rattling the tankards on the shelves and a heavy foot causing vibrations along the warped timber floor. The goliath took up station towards the end of the bar, aware of Sabroth running up behind him.

He stared as a cloud of deep purple ethereal orcs swarmed through the door, then realised that this was likely a cleric’s protective magic. Any thoughts as to what had cast the spell went clean from Luris’s mind as a great sword came through the door, held in a mighty paw that in all honesty dwarfed Luris, an unusual feeling for a goliath.

He naturally had to duck his head to enter many establishments built for humans and smaller humanoid folk, though privately he admitted that it wasn’t as many as for much of his herd. But the figure pushing through the door could barely squeeze through, the timber frame splintering as a most massive orc heaved itself through, great sword in either hand.

The cloud of spectral orcs whirled around it, filling the space. Luris caught a glimpse of Sierra appearing from somewhere behind the bar and loosed a shot from her hand crossbow  _ Silvertongue,  _ which the behemoth before them barely seemed to acknowledge. Faster than he expected, luris, distracted by the spectral figures now enveloping him realised that a great sword was swinging straight for him. He caught it on the heft of the spear, just a little too late. The blade sank into the soft tissue of his shoulder and he felt tendons and musculature split as the blade rasped against his collarbone. He sank to one knee with the blow, knowing that if his collarbone fractured, things would get a lot harder.

Braced against the blade bearing him down, he couldn't move away from a flurry of the spectral figures swirling around this great orc and Luris gasped in pain as he felt multiple impacts.

With a shout, he pushed back against the sword and whipped  _ Scalesplitter _ out, gouging into the great-orcs chest, following with a knuckle-punch into the armpit. Not aiming for too much damage, he instead used a pressure point to cause the great-orc’s arm to go numb for a moment then channeled his ki and used the butt of his spear to vault away from the great-orc, sliding across a table to land across the room and clear of the attacker at least for a moment, as Dyblygs echo carved into the great-orcs back.

Metal sparked off metal as the great-orc clashed with the echo, one great sword holding it back as the other batted away a bolt from Sierra as she dived across the bar and whirled in the doorway, reloading.

“Allhammer curse thee!” Lidgnut was holding the symbol to his god and he swept the warhammer towards the great-orc.

A bolt of divine energy cascaded from the head of the hammer. It slammed into the chest of the great-orc with a blinding flash and Lidgnut gritted his teeth as the beam of energy tore into the great-orcs flesh.

It’s head reared back, screaming in pain and the divine light shone out through its eyes and mouth.

With an audible snap, the beam suddenly cut out; the spectral figures winking out of existence in the same instant.

The great orc stood arms wide, head in the rafters with a cauterised circle exposing its innards. With smoking still emitting from its mouth, it tipped straight forward, crushing a table into kindling and jarring everyone where they stood.

  
  


“By the Wildmother, you killed it,” One of the farmers remained under the table. “I can’t believe you killed it.”

  
  


“You saved us,” said the one who had been standing at the bar and now stared at the creature that had crushed the table he had narrowly scrambled from as it collapsed.

Luris saw his untouched tankard and picked it up, downing it in one.

  
  


“I’m going to need another drink.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this first chapter of this ongoing adventure.
> 
> Before you continue on with the story, a few notes that may help explain things. These cover both campaigns that I write up so notes here may be less relevant for this particular story. But they exist within the same universe so are applicable for both.
> 
> This story is one of two (currently) that look to take Dungeons and Dragons games and put a narrative spin onto it. This largely sets the chapter lengths and means things can suddenly come out of the blue, entirely depending on the actions of players and not the characters featured in this story. Where I can, I look to provide explanations but in some cases - random things just happen!
> 
> As this campaign is set in Exandria, the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount becomes the tome that leads things, followed by either official Dungeons and Dragons 5e lore, or by the Tal’Dorei Explorers Guide. The Exandria based guides take precedence over the core D&D books where any clash occurs, unless I (or as a result of player or Games Master action) deliberately rule otherwise.
> 
> Taking established rule sets and attempting to make them work in a narrative setting means any author has to make their own interpretations in order to keep everything within a cohesive framework with set rules.   
> I have encountered this with several instances so far and so below is my ‘rule set’ for when the rules need some measure of in-universe explanation - and be aware that these ‘rules’ may not be directly referenced within the work. They serve to inform my writing much more than to be recognised knowledge in-universe.
> 
> For any work following a ‘rules as written’ guide, the issue of injuries and recovery comes up. The rules for D&D 5e allow for a character to regain any lost hit points after a long rest (8 hours of sleep or light activity) which leaves the question of how an adventurer whose wounds could have knocked them into unconsciousness could be absolutely fine just eight hours later, potentially without magic. I have elected the following for this interpretation.   
> Traits are shown to be capable of genetically passing along a bloodline (tieflings is an obvious example) and for some lucky souls, (ie Player Characters and possibly major Non Player Characters) there is now a trait of regeneration. It is limited compared to that of the magic spell of this name, or of trolls innate, and now much more potent, version of this ability so no regaining lost limbs and no sudden return of hit points.   
> But anyone with this latent trait is able to recover from damage by resting. Healing magic (arcane and divine) taps into this regenerative power and it doesn’t preclude from needing a longer period of rest for given injuries. But it provides some explanation for how resting can allow PCs to go from near death to absolutely fine.  
> It also means that with training, or just strong will, a PC can tap into this and so go someway to explain abilities like Second Wind, Relentless Endurance and so on, without them having to have any innate magical talent.
> 
> Both Explorer’s Guides have two different subsets of dragonborn; the draconblood and the ravenite. The rules for these sub races mean they vary a little from the official 5e interpretation of dragonborn. For this story, dragonborn is used to denote the race - draconblood are those dragonblood with tails who lived on the flying city state of Draconia, and ravenite for those dragonblood without tails who lived in the Dreemoth ravine in the shadow of Draconia. As the features sets are different in all of the different rule books and all are valid choices, these distinctions do NOT necessarily indicate racial treats or features. Just as dragonborn can be one of ten (or possibly more) colour of scales, the terms Draconblood and Ravenite are used to indicate a culture and are not definitive rules to the ability of any given dragonborn.
> 
> As a personal choice, I have elected to make the monk ability Patient Defence actually activate ‘bullet-time’. Time manipulation is now known on Exandria (see the rules on Dunamancy) so I feel this acceptable in this instance. And it allows for me to legitimately slow things down mid combat. It’s possible that other traits (such as Action Surge) may do something similar and I am currently considering if this can be expanded.
> 
> A little note on terminology:
> 
> Focussing is for when a character has psionics or is wielding mental powers;   
> channelling is for external manifestations of magic power;   
> the weave is the means by which casters can access the magical power that binds itself around all things and by which other magical use can be identified


	2. Fessarun Festivities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having survived the encounter with the Ravagers, our party continue to Brethir and the next leg of the journey

Dyblyg moved over to the fallen body and prodded it with his sword.

  
  


“I think this is a Slaughter Lord,” he said.

  
  


Luris looked over at him in shock.

  
  


“What’s a Slaughter Lord?” Sabroth asked.

  
  


“Weaker than I thought,” Dyblyg mused.

  
  


“I think it was already wounded when it came in,” said one of the farmers, still sitting on the floor, wide-eyed.

  
  


Luris took over. “The Slaughter Lords are said to be the chieftains of the Ravagers, blessed by the Ruiner himself to lead the hordes across the Plains. Caught a rumour last time I was back in Westruun that there were only a few of these . If that’s true …” He trailed off, a louw sound on the edge of his hearing.

As Lidgnut stepped over to Dyblyg, a short prayer to the Allhammer healing some of the dragonborns wounds, Luris began to move around the room, head cocked to one side, trying to pin down the noise.

  
  


Dyblyg clapped the dwarf on the back. “Come get a drink, fella.”

  
  


As Luris approached the large window to one side, the noise was possibly a little louder. There was a rhythmic pattern to it, remaining him of a -

“Tick Tock,” Sierra said next to him. They shared a glance then turned back to the others.”Anyone else hear the ticking?” She asked

The rest of the room turned to look at the pair.

  
  


“No,” Lidgnut said gruffly.

  
  


“Wait,” Luris said, “it’s just stopped.”

  
  


He and Sierra were looking at each other, both trying to hear it again when -

  
  


BOOOOOM!

  
  


“I heard that.” Lidgnut mentioned.

  
  


There had been a flash through the window and the detonation left echoes in his head as Luris charged towards the door, Sierra in his wake. They darted to the side and hurried around the corner, headed towards the rear of the inn, Sierra leaping onto the broom.

As they reached the back of the inn, it opened into a small open area before the surrounding wood began. Luris skidded to a halt to avoid running into Thazak who was walking back, a little dazed. Behind him, a smoking crater lay next to the shattered remnants of a tree.

  
  


“Fuck me.” Thazak said.

  
  


“Thazak! What happened?”

  
  


“Where you fighting?” He asked.

  
  


Luris nodded, watching Sierra circling the area behind them. “Goblins and a possible Slaughter Lord hiding in the inn. What happened here?”

  
  


Thazak shook his head, a light cloud of dirt falling to the ground.

  
  


“I was checking the perimeter and saw a shape by a tree, a figure. As I approached, it was some measure of contraption, a man of metal.”

  
  


“Armoured?”

“No. Actually made of metal.” Thazak turned for a moment to look at the crater as the rest of the party arrived. “The metal man was just stood there until I got near. Then a blade just appeared from its arm and stabbed me.”

They looked down and they could see a red wound on his side, an obvious knife wound. Lidgnut stepped forward and intoned another prayer, more healing which Thazak thanked him for as he continued.

  
  


“After that, I was defending myself. Think I had the upper hand then it went quiet. I noticed that it had been ticking, y’know. One of those noises you don’t notice until it isn’t there anymore. Then …” He stopped speaking but his hands made an explosion.

Luris bent over and pulled a clockwork wheel from his beard. It was warm to the touch.

  
  


He frowned and looked over to Lidgnut. “Didn’t you mention something happen back in Stilben that involved a mechanical contraption? Wherever you got that doohickey we used to distract the sahuagin.”

  
  


“Hmm, well, that was a mechanical spider. It did explode but I’m not certain that’s the same thing.”

  
  


Luris looked over to Sierra. “Any idea where it came from?”

  
  


“Actually no,”she was off the broom and looking at the ground, and Luris left Thazak to head over. “Have a look,” Sierra continued, “I make out a few tracks that the explosion didn’t obliterate, those sharp angled almost skeleton-like ones there, but I can’t make out any tracks approaching this spot, other than Thazak’s.”

  
  


“Magic?”

  
  


Sierra shrugged. “That or it fell from the sky. But there are no visible landing points.”

  
  


“I presume if it was magic it could also have been dropped and had a soft landing. You know, like if it was dropped from a skyship and someone used a spell to lower it down.”

  
  


Sierra sighed.

Lidgnut walked up. “Anything we can learn from here?”

  
  


“Not really. Watch the skies for metal men?”

  
  


Lidgnut just gave her a look. “Right then, let’s get the bodies cleared from the inn. Then a drink.”

  
  


It took a little time to drag the Slaughter Lord from the main room, requiring a bit of a joint effort to get it through the door. Sabroth picked up one of the large greatswords, a slight wistful look on his face.

“Tell you what, lad. Let me have both of his weapons and I’ll have a usable greatsword for you in an hour or so. Presuming we are stopping here for the evening so I can entreat the Allhammer of course.”

  
  


Sierra was dragging one of the goblins bodies out. “If you are able, would I be able to get some crossbow bolts also?”

  
  


“Well, we have all this metal from these rubbish weapons. Reckon I could get a bundle together for you by the morning.”

  
  


“Thank you!” She carried on to the pile forming to one side. 

  
  


“Think I’ll set up in the stable - less distractions in there.”

  
  


Luris was carrying two goblin bodies from the stables and heard the last. “You’ll have to wait for a moment - I need to pull the remains of a horse from there.”

As the day slowly turned to evening, the ruined bodies were set aflame and the group hauled water from the inn’s well to clean themselves down.

Lidgnut spent a couple of hours working his divine favour but was able to bring a serviceable great-sword that Sabroth received eagerly. The farmers who had been caught in the encounter had swiftly departed, the shock of the whole event writ large across their face. The bar-maid, still pale, but healed from the magic of the party, offered them the rooms free of charge, along with ale and food, which the group gratefully accepted.

At one point in the evening, Luris took a moment to ask her if she had seen a sky-ship recently.

  
  


She paused as she pulled another pint. “A skyship. What’s one of those?”

  
  


“Think a sailing ship. But in the air.”

  
  


The barmaid just stared at him. “I’ve never seen such a thing. What on Exandria will they come up with next? I thought the carnival in Brethir was a thing of wonder. Little did I know.” She shook her head and went back to pulling the next round in.

Luris took out a gold ring they had found on one of the goblins. The symbol of the Westruun Shield glinted in the firelight, presumably taken from the riders they had stumbled across, earlier in the day. 

“Things do seem to be changing.” He murmured to himself. 

  
  


“Whatcha got there?” She asked.

  
  


“A memento,” he said absently. “We came across the bodies of two Westruun Shield on the track just an hour or so from here.”

  
  


“Shields? This far south? Why I can’t recall the last time I saw any of them in these parts.” She paused again at her pulling, clearly taken aback by all she was hearing.

  
  


“I wasn’t aware that Westruun maintained a presence here.” Luris answered, still looking at the ring. “So they were here for something. Appears that the Ravagers caught them both by surprise. Them and their mounts.”

  
  


The barmaid shook her head, almost as disturbed at the wanton slaughter to animals as to the whole encounter that had occurred just hours before, the dark stains in the floorboards likely to become a permanent reminder of this day.

Dyblyg and Sabroth were the first to head for the proffered rooms to rest that night. The remaining companions remained in the taproom a little while longer. It finally felt like they had been able to begin to take a breath after the frantic flight from Stilben, even before the fortnight spent traversing the K’Tawl before that.

The Ravagers so far south on the Plains was a point of worry. To Luris the presence of the Ravagers explained why any Westruun Shields were so far south, at least to some extent. He hoped at least it was as simple as that.

And the metal man that Thazak had come across was another nagging thought. Luris suspected that if Oreanna’s skyship had come this way, it would explain the sudden appearance. Whatever the reason, there seemed to be a lot more happening that was obvious to them.

The barmaid was obviously flagging on her feet and they took their leave not much later, heading to their respective beds. Despite the sense of ease, they couldn’t help but set themselves a watch.

Luris took that first watch, still feeling the ache from the Slaughter Lords attack. He let his thoughts drift, wondering for a moment how Adagio had fared on his journey back into the swamp; whether Nehir’s grove was flourishing with the nearby dark temple now cleansed, in remembrance of those who had fallen in the swamp. He hoped that Bragor and Bruce had weathered the Stilben lockdown, pondering for a moment the ongoing absence of the acolytes from the temple of the Everlight.

But rather than drifting into unanswerable questions about what lay ahead of them, he went back in his mind to the time before he had met his current companions, the years spent crossing the Dividing Plains, itself a quiet and ongoing worship to his ever travelling goddess.

He was calm as he roused Sierra to take over from him and the night passed in dreamless sleep.

The party woke early the next morning, Lidgnuts divine magic accelerating their innate healing and leaving them refreshed as they came together. The bar maid had already surfaced as well and was currently cooking up strips of bacon and eggs for breakfast.

The group, eager to reach Brethir that night, ate quickly then said their goodbyes. Dyblyg just left three gold pieces on the bar as he left, with no goodbye. As she passed, Sierra, her own land-lady past in sympathy with their host, passed over a bag, holding it a little delicately. “Caltrops. Someone comes through this door you don’t like, throw these down and that’ll cause issues.”

“Oh, well, thank you miss.”

  
  


Lidgnut coughed. “And this dagger will help with any that get beyond those.” The dagger he held was, to Luris’ eye, one of the better daggers that the goblins had been wielding the day before. “Stick the sharp end away from you.”

  
  


“Right. I, I don’t know what to say. Thank you, I guess. I think yesterday would have been much worse without you all arriving when you did.”

  
  


“No problem,” Lidgnut said gruffly, patting the back of her hand and walking out. Was he blushing a little?”

Luris gestured for Sierra to head out before him and looked over to the barmaid, apparently also the landlady as she was the only one here.

“Do you need us to fetch someone for you? Or take you to Brethir?”

  
  


“Ah get away with you,”she smiled. “Old Sami will be in afore too long for his morning ‘pick-me-up’ and there’s enough locals in the nearby farmsteads as well to keep an eye out for me.”

  
  


“Very well,” He bowed slightly to her. “I’ve left a haunch of plainscow on your curing rack in the stable, and we’ve cleaned it as best we can. May the Changebringer guide your path.”

He left and caught up to the rest easily enough.

***

The sun was into the early afternoon as they came around a bend on the foothills and the track descended into arable land. In the distance, the sweeping grasses of the Plains curved around a wide valley that headed to their left and southwards.

The glitter of the Foramere Waterway was visible for a while as they descended from the foothills; Luris estimated it as maybe twelve miles away give or take. The river was barely visible here but Luris expected it to be pretty wide, up to a couple of miles across

As they continued into the farmland before them, the river opened out into a massive lake, large enough for the village to maintain a fishing fleet from what Lidgnut said, though he had never visited.

  
  


“But your village is just along the river.” Sierra asked.

  
  


“Right, but Fura is a bit of a dead-end place. No real through route. And I had no reason to come up here when I was but a wee thing.”

They pressed on. Brethir came into view and from this distance it was clear that the village was nearer a small town. The buildings nearest to the lake were actually on stilts overlooking the water for somewhere for the small ships and boats visible on the lake to dock directly. However, Brethir was large enough that many of the low stone buildings here were set back from the water.

Approaching closer, and now with the sun low in the sky, the party could see a wooden palisade encircling the buildings. The gatehouse that led into the town proper was manned by two guards. As the party neared them, both straightened, affecting an official air.

The effect was somewhat undercut by the colourful silk ribbons attached to their spears and the garlands of flower chains each had around their neck.

  
  


“Evening travellers. You stopping at Brethir this night?”

  
  


“Yes we are,” Dyblyg replied, giving a loose Plains style salute of bringing his fist to his chest and tapping his sternum twice. “Would you gentlemen be able to recommend an establishment to rest up in?”

  
  


“Normally, there’d be a couple options for you. But with the carnival in town, there’s not many spaces.”

  
  


Luris could hear the faint wisps of music and crowds; and that explained the ribbons and flowers as the guard continued.

  
  


“You may get lucky at the  _ Keg and Tap It _ . Head through and follow the road south, it’s just past Market Square. You may find a lot of the local trade is closed or focussed on the carnivale, I’m afraid. Towns making a festival out of them being here.”

  
  


“That’s fine.” Dyblyg set off.

Luris leaned in closer; one of the guards instinctive stepping back. “A heads up for you and yours. We encountered Ravagers just a day or so from here.” Any sense of the party mood the two had been feeling vanished, but Luris figured it was more important that they knew as he went on. “We dealt with them but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more out there.” He thought about flashing the ring but decided that may make things more complicated.

  
  


“Um, right. Good to know,” said one, visibly perturbed. 

  
  


Luris nodded to them and followed after the rest.

The streets were bustling in the town, a hubbub of excited voices forming a aural backdrop and a plethora of flower garlands, colourful ribbons, wreaths from the tail end of the harvest and hastily dyed banners festooned the gables of the houses, draped between buildings and generally turning this normally drab town into a riot of colour.

They proceeded towards the centre and the general commotion grew around them, as the revellers grew in numbers, and in volume. Reaching the market square, they found that almost all of the stalls were empty or shrouded and locked up. The decorations were even heavier and the few stalls still open were doing a roaring trade in food; end of season fruits, most likely ducked in sugar or caramelised honey; or chunks of meat from the herds of plainscows or pigs from the farms they had passed while approaching.

Luris could feel his stomach rumbling as they skirted the edge of the square, avoiding the crowds a little to try to reach the other end. Beyond the market square to the east, it opened into what appeared to be some form of common ground. Though their view was largely blocked by the heaving square. It was clear that there was much more activity over there. A series of flyers had been nailed to most of the stalls and Luris took one down.

“Entertainments for this week of Fessuran Festivities

  * Magicians Duel
  * Feats of Strength
  * Dead Man’s Poker
  * Draco-Goblin Wrestling
  * Brethir Players presenting their take on the ‘Calamitis Tragedy of the House of Idrinaphan’
  * Plainscow races (Bring Your Own Cow)
  * Skiff Racing 
  * Pumpkin carving Contest



“Alright, alright,” Lidgnut grumbled, “ I get the idea. Let’s get rooms sorted. Then we can have a look about the place.”

Pushing past a pair of yodelling dwarves, the group took a road to the south. A few dozen yards down a sign of a barrel swung on rusty chains

“The  _ Keg and Tap Inn _ ,” Sierra read. “That was the place right?”

  
  


“Yes.”

  
  


They entered. The tap room was heaving, largely with humans but there were a couple of tables of dwarves loudly banging tankards and quaffing the frothy beer.

Two female half-orcs were at the bar, with tankards being taken as fast as they were poured, piles of gold clattering on the bar. Another half orc, looking to be the sister of the two at work pouring pints was deftly ducking through the throng, fists full with tankards that slopped over the sides.

Another half-orc, hands also through the handles of several tankards passed them. His salt and pepper hair and general air suggested he was the father to the rest of the inn workers.#

  
  


“Well met, travellers. I take it you are fresh to Brethir?” He turned to look at them and they noticed that his right arm was a little more withered than the left.

  
  


“Aye, we are looking for rooms and board.”

  
  


“Well, Master Dwarf, all I have is the shared dorm out back. And before you head elsewhere, I know that that’s all the place you will find in Brethir tonight. It’ll be five gold.”

  
  


“Five gold!” Lidgnut actually spluttered.

  
  


“Sure and it would be cheaper any other week. But not this. Take it or leave it.”

  
  


As he turned to go, Lidgnut growled. But he reached for his coin purse and proffered five gold pieces.

  
  


“That’s daylight robbery!”

  
  


The half-orc skilfully swept a handful of tankards onto a table as the elderly gentleman at it finished drinking and slowly collapsed to the floor, already snoring. He just shrugged,the right shoulder not lifting as high as the other, clearly not disagreeing with Lidgnuts claim and not particularly bothered.

  
  


“First round included. And there’ll be breakfast.” He left, favouring his right leg and yelling at the ladies behind the bar to keep the drinks coming.

  
  


After a long day of walking, the drinks went down fast. They elected to check out the festivities on the common rather than remain in the close proximity of those who had been apparently drinking all day so far.

It was quickly apparent that not all of the events were taking place every day; Dyblyg a little disappointed to find that he had already missed the wrestling.

Past the market square, on the common, the current state of things seemed to be a mix of local fayre trappings with the likes of apple bobbing, candied fruits and hooping throwing stands offering little prize of lots of money. But these gave way to more professional examples - it appeared that a travelling troupe of players had brought their caravans and had set up; Brethir had just expanded on what the troupe had brought.

  
  


There was a stage set-up to the northern end of the common, angled to take advantage of the passing sun. The bustle of the crowd around them meant that the actors' words were largely lost - from what Luris could hear, it seemed to be some version of boy meets girl, boy loses girl.

  
  


“The bardic college in Westruun is much more polished. “He said critically.

  
  


“It’s crap,” Lidgnut said much more succinctly, earning him some dark looks. They moved onwards. 

There was a crowd gathering for a happening further along. One enterprising farmer had managed to wrangle a grill over a fire and was burning several haunches of meat that Luris hoped was plainscow.

He could see Sabroth staring at them in hunger and was aware of his own stomach. Indicating for two hunks of the meat.

“Sure big man. Two gold apiece.”

He stared at the vender for a moment, sure he had misheard.

  
  


“Two gold each or move on.”

Luris took a moment to appreciate that this skinny vendor was clearly not bothered by his seven foot plus goliath frame, or the muscular physique of Sabroth and slowly pulled out his coin purse, handing the money over.

  
  


“You look a little morose, considering the size of the meat you are hauling back.” Sierra said

  
  


“Two gold each,” Luris said, looking glumly at the hunk of charred meat, dripping hot liquid down his arm. “That’s half the money I had left.”

“And much more than I have,” Sabroth added, around a large mouthful.

  
  


“Oh for …” She sighed and pulled out a handful of coins which she offered to them. “Look, this is about ten gold each. Have an allowance for the evening.”

  
  


“But I still owe you twelve,” Luris replied, not taking the money. Sabroth, penniless after his incarceration, took the money without hesitation.

  
  


Sierra looked at Luris sternly. “I said allowance, not loan. Bloody well take it.”

  
  


“Thanks,” Luris mumbled, accepting the money, which put him into double figures again.

  
  


The group pressed on. Luris, largely a head above everyone there caught a phrase from nearby which included the name “Westruun.”

He turned to look.

Sitting on the steps of a travelling caravan, an older gentleman, with an unkempt beard and the wrinkled skin of a human who was out in the elements come rain or shine, was telling a story to a group of interested villagers, largely children. Despite his casual stance and slightly rasping voice, there was a presence to him.

Luris stepped over and realised that the gentleman was in the midst of his own version of the tale of the adventuring party known as Vox Machina. The goliath looked back to see his party had continued towards the folks collected around what appeared to be a pair of splindly wizards.

More interested in the story than a showing of arcane lore, he remained in earshot, listening to the speaker weave a tale of adventure, grandeur and derring-do, lost in the imagery.

The sun had set when the speaker finally reached a crescendo in the tale, the listeners all cheering at the triumphant ending.Finishing off the now very cold meat hunk, Luris realised that Dyblyg was now next to him.

“Good story?” Dyblyg asked.

  
  


Luris just nodded. Dyblyg had already walked past him and approached the speaker.

  
  


“Well met traveller.”

“And to you. Rare to see a dragonborn in this part of the world. Of any colour.”

  
  


“I get that. You seem to be a well travelled man,” the speaker shrugged but with a grin, and Dyblyg continued. “I am looking for an acolyte of my village, a young human girl called Charlie.”

  
  


“I see many young girls, I doubt I can help you find a given one.”

  
  


“That’s fair. However this one seeks a fire genasi. And you strike me as a man who would recognise one of those when he saw one.”

  
  


This last caused the speaker to pause, and regard the dragonborn. “A fire genasi eh? That would be e’en rarer than thee. Can’t say that I have seen a genasi of any colour for many a year now.”

  
  


“Perhaps a tiefling? I believe that they can get mixed up on occasion.”

  
  


“Afraid I haven’t seen any of either for a while. We’ve been skirting the southern edge of the Plains for many months, circling around from Kymal. Seen many folks on the way but not many tieflings. And no genasi of any ilk. Now strange things for sure. Why, just in the last week, we saw a ship sailing in the sky! Hah, maybe your genasi was on that!” He chuckled at his own joke, and missed Luris’ face going pale.

  
  


Dyblyg just nodded and turned to leave.

  
  


“Excuse me, did you say you saw a skyship recently?”

  
  


“That I did. Magnificent sight to behold.”

  
  


“I’ve seen one docked at Whitestone,” Luris replied. “Tell me, where did you see this recent one?”

  
  


“Ah, let me think. This would have been a few days ago, on the track up from Fura. Glorious sight. Swept right across the caravan train and headed south and west.”

“So towards the Ashen Gorge?” Luris mused.

  
  


“You know, that’s probably true. But that’s a part of the land I haven’t visited and don’t intend to.”

  
  


“I hear that. Where are you headed to next?”

  
  


“Ah, we’ll carry on around the Plains. Don’t know if we’ll pass into Stilben - can’t abide the smell but we’ll just see where we end up.”

  
  


“We came across signs of Ravagers on the road east of Brethir.”

  
  


“Now that is bad news.”

  
  


“I would stick to the main trade routes, at least for a time. Possibly even head back west.”

  
  


“We’ll bear that in mind when we pack up here. Thank you for the warning.”

  
  


“No problem. Thank you for the story.”

  
  


Luris turned and headed over to Dyblyg who was again scanning the crowd. As Luris approached, he turned grey.

  
  


“No, get the dogs!”

  
  


His metallic colour returned in an instant and he looked at Luris.

  
  


“All done?”

  
  


“Yes. You did your phasing out thing again.”

  
  


Dyblyg just shrugged - his temporal flashes were never something he remembered. “Come on, the rest have returned to the inn, winnings in hand.”

  
  


“Sure. Wait, winnings?”

  
  


“From the thing with the hill giant. Sabroth won just by sitting there. Glad I didn’t put money on the little fellow after all.”

  
  


“Wait, what?”

  
  


As they moved through the crowds, Dyblyg still watching everyone they passed, he brought Luris up to speed on the game of Dead Man’s Poker.

  
  


“Thought it was a cage match to start with. Sabroth just charged in. Turns out you sit there and an inebriated hill giant is let in with a heavy club. Last person he knocks off wins. Sabroth won five hundred gold!. And the rest of us all bet on him with good odds.”

  
  


Luris thought a little mournfully of the handful of gold he had in his own puch - most of which had come from Sierra just a little while before. Coming from a life where he lived off the land and generally got bed, if not board from whichever temple he was delivering to, the amount of money he had witnessed these last few weeks had been a revelation.

The spear on his back, by far the most expensive item he had ever owed, had been almost an impulse purchase, though one that he knew he would be able to use for years to come, all but sure that would have been it for the money he would receive. 

  
  


“Sounds like you all did well.”

  
  


“Sabroth especially. He got some fancy leather armour as well as part of the prize. Though I wager that Sierra will end up with it. Doesn’t feel like an armour bloke really, kinda like you. Besides he got the magic bracers.”

  
  


“Wait, magic bracers?”

  
  


“Oh sure, from the swop with the old spell book.”

Luris shook his head, and made a note to ask Lidgnut later for the details in a more cohesive order.

The pair found the others wedged in a corner back at the  _ Keg and Tap _ , a round waiting for them on the table.

One rowdy human turned to argue when he felt someone trying to push him away from the table. His eyes met Luris chest and he looked up.

“Excuse us,” Dyblyg said firmly. The human blanched and moved away into the crush and the two were able to take seats at the table.

Sabroth indeed had some new bracers, with ornate metal tracings in the leather that Lidgnut had received as part of a deal with a magician for a spellbook he had received in Stilben prior to Luris joining the party.

Sierra too was wearing new leather armour. “Hey, watch this,” she said as they each took a drink. She muttered an indistinct word then the leather armour suddenly was a well crafted tunic.

“The armour can change its appearance on command!”

  
  


“Pretty cool.”

  
  


“I know, right! Thanks again Sabroth.”

  
  


The barbarian nodded, finishing his drink. “If you will all excuse me, I’ve got used to sleeping early. See you in the morning.”

  
  


Dyblyg was not far behind; his habitual rise to meet the dawn also making him one who preferred to sleep early.

Sierra’s landlady history meant she preferred a later night and Luris and the dwarves remained up with her a little longer as they traded stories of their past, over a few more rounds.

  
  


“So the spellbook came from a kobold!”

  
  


“That wasn’t even the strangest thing that day. Wait for this …”

  
  


The room out back when they left the still heaving taproom was little more than a clean shed and there were several incumbent bodies already spaced out in bedrolls. 

Luris cleared enough room for them by the simple method of bodily picking sleepers, some of whom were too drunk to notice and moving them away so that the six of them could claim one wall.

Despite Lidgnut’s low grumbling, Luris was in pretty good spirits, all in all. On the whole the party had done well today - he may have not been able to share in the winnings of the rest but he still had the aquamarine they had gained from the swamp - though whether Brethir was large enough for any kind of gem exchange was another matter.

And honestly, he as likely didn’t need all that much. Though he had to admit more than a passing interest in the fancy bracers Sabroth now sported. He hadn’t realised how much he had missed walking through the Plains, or the excitement of entering a new town. The humid, oppressive air of Stilben was most certainly not a favoured place.

He knew that things were likely to take a downturn at some point soon.

But right now, he was truly following She Who Makes The Path and, for now, his soul was at rest and he slept.


	3. Luris: Howl of the Blood Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the cheers of carnival, things take a decidedly darker tone in the town of Brethir and our companions have a new terror to contend with

Luris awoke from his dreams when the second cry of ‘Murder!’ echoed through the room.

His eyes opened to see Dyblyg stumbling across the bodies that slumbered in this makeshift dorm, muttering as he almost fell across the snoring Sabroth before finding the door and headed out.

  
  


“Get the Watch!” He called loudly as he departed.

  
  


He let in both a blast of chilly night air and the distant sounds of more cries. Sitting up, Luris saw that Sierra was also stirring. They traded a look then grabbed their weapons and followed.

Once outside, the hubbub was easy to discern and the pair headed around the inn and up to the market square. 

A bell began to ring out, an obvious warning and they could see torches bobbing in the common as faces began to appear in windows, bleary eyed. Dyblyg’s form was visible heading towards the cluster of people.

Despite his height, it took Luris a moment to push his way through the assembling crowd. At the centre, he found Dyblyg kneeling by a body. 

  
  


“It headed this way,” the dragonborn hissed and he set off towards the nearby city wall.

  
  


“Wait!”

  
  


Dyblyg ignored the call and Luris’ attention was held by the corpse. Two of the Watch stood with torches, vainly trying to hold others back - one look at Luris though and they discretely turned their backs, seeing a chance for someone else to have to deal with this … this  _ mess _ of a body. There was also a distraught woman, hugging herself, tears visible on her cheeks.

“I saw it. Why did it do it?” 

  
  


Once a human, the body was now ragged and ripped, claw and tooth marks evident in the sundered flesh.

  
  


“Pleasant,” said Sierra with an expression that said anything but. She hefted her broom and glanced back at Luris. “Afraid you can’t fit on this.” She took off after Dyblyg. 

The dragonborn had by now reached the wall, he crossed it by the simple method of manifesting his echo on top of the wall then swapping places. For one moment, he was visible in the moonlight then his shape flickered grey as he used his echo again and he was gone.

  
  


Luris turned to the nearest of the Watch. “You can probably stop ringing the bell.” He sighed as he watched Sierra easily fly over the wall, took a breath then started running straight for the wall.

  
  


“Hey, where’s he going?” One Watchman asked.

  
  


Luris heard the other shout behind but his attention was on the wall as he approached it at a dead run. He pushed off the ground, got one foot on the wall then pushed up and his hands shot up and grabbed the top. At this point, it was little more than a wooden palisade, logs sunk into the ground and sticking up nearly fifteen feet . Luris was glad that the top was flat as he heaved himself up.

From the top, he could see that for several hundred feet, the land was open beyond the palisade then a patch of woodland broke the view further. Dyblyg was visible not too far from the wall with Sierra passing over him.

It was an easy landing and he headed over to Dyblyg.

  
  


“Tracks here. Easy to spot. Mostly canine but they are a little off. See, here, this shape is almost humanoid. Only one set of prints though.” He glanced up past Luris. The goliath turned. Catha was bright in the sky, maybe a day or two short of being a full moon. Ruidus was visible, it’s deep hue had a pale reflection in the main glow of its larger lunar partner.

  
  


“Blood moon tonight.”

  
  


They shared a look, the old wives tales causing a joint suspicion in the back of their minds.

  
  


“May want to get the others,” Dyblyg said.

  
  


“Yeah, you may be right. Try to keep an eye on Sierra would you?” Luris had a quick look around, fixing the location based on the manor house he could see to the north and the roof line visible over the wall then he took off at a sprint towards the wall again.

  
  


The members of the Watch had managed to find someone to console the woman who had apparently witnessed the attack and were urging people to return to their homes and lock the doors.

They both jumped as Luris arrived next to them.

  
  


“Pass the word please. My companions and I are tracking the beast that did this.”

He didn't wait for their response but continued onwards back to the  _ Keg and Tap Inn _ , hearing behind him one of the guards asking his partner a little incredulously, “Hey, did he just jump over our wall?”

Waking up his companions took a little bit of time, Lidgnut and Sabroth particularly deep sleepers after the extra round or four they had imbibed earlier in the evening.

Invoking their respective gods did the trick however. Luris gave a curious look at the other pendant around Sabroths neck, the dull metal portcullis under the trident symbol of his water god. Lidgnut, having doffed his armour earlier, disregarded it now and just grabbed his warhammer.

They headed towards the main gates; Luris noting the be-flowered guards still on duty from earlier looked a lot more attentive as they passed them but they didn’t try to stop the party as they exited. 

Dyblyg had moved closer to the trees by the time they returned, obviously keen to push on in. Of Sierra there was no sign. He was about to surge on forward when Luris gestured for him to wait.

As they reached him, Luris took hold of the holy symbol around his neck.

  
  


“Changebringer, show us the path.”

  
  


His eyes flared with a warm hue like that of the summer dusk and the rest watched as their eyes momentarily did the same.

  
  


“That’s a neat trick,” Dyblyg marvelled as he realised that his night vision had suddenly become much improved, as had the others.

  
  


Luris merely shrugged, though he noted to himself how quickly he had become used to his own darkvision, the blessings of his goddess meaning that he saw as well at night as he did during the day.

They pushed on into the trees. The tracks on the ground, the elongated part animal of something reasonably heavy became harder to distinguish against the leaves that had begun to drop from these trees.

However, with their improved vision, they could see Sierra twenty or so feet above the ground, using a low tree as cover from something beyond her. Even with Lidgnut stomping along, they reached the tree she was at and were able to see beyond.

The undergrowth carried on a little further before it opened into a clearing, large enough that the muted reddish tones of Catha could light the opening. Near to them and now audible there was a crack of bones. A bestial form was hunched over, large snout ripping the last shreds of meat from a rabbit corpse, a second eviscerated and gutted nearby. The beast was large and the head was unmistakably that of a wolf, with dark grey fur covering the body. But the body was not lupine; rather it appeared disturbingly humanoid, or perhaps a mix between that and wolf.

It threw the pitiful remains away then sniffed the air; turning towards them, teeth baring as it growled, yellow-irised eyes glinting in the moonlight.

  
  


“Go!” Yelled Sierra, pushing off overhead, her  _ Silvertongue _ crossbow already aimed. The first bow sliced along the inside of the creature's forearm, blood flowing even as a second bolt lodged in the shoulder of the same arm. It snarled and tensed to spring towards them, fury in it’s eyes.

Thazak barrelled into it from the side, a crack as his shoulder hit the creature's thigh. He swung once into the thigh muscle, reversed punch into it’s gut then leapt into an uppercut that slammed into the creature's throat. Landing in a ready stance, he watched calmly as the eyes of the wolf creature before them bulged, crashing to the ground as its leg gave way and it keeled over, head landing at an unnatural angle. It tried to draw breath 

No, it was trying to chuckle. “We .. are rising. Brethir … soon be … ours.” There was a rattle in its throat then silence

  
  


“Maybe we didn’t need to wait after all,” Dyblyg said, walking up to the beast. He paused as the creature's skin writhed and the thick grey hairs vanished, the ferocious form shifting into that of an older human man.

  
  


“If there had been a pack of these though, “Sierra reminded him. “It sure made a mess of whoever that had been back in Brethir.”

“‘We are rising. Brethir soon be ours’” Luris mused. “Doesn’t sound good. Let’s get him back to the village.”

  
  


“Aye lad, more sleep but we can pursue this more in the morning. One of you grab that.”

  
  


Dyblyg, standing over the corpse, picked it up and slung the body across a shoulder. Heading back, they didn’t spy anything else that gave them concern. 

The gate to Brethir opened hesitantly as they approached, the guards eyeing them nervously.

  
  


“Where is your watch captain?” Luris called as they approached. “We have this for him.”

  
  


“Uh, well, the burgomeister came through just a few moments ago. So presumably at the body.”

  
  


Luris nodded his thanks as they passed, aware of their eyes locked on the body across Dyblygs shoulder, the stains of blood on its face and chest very evocative of someone who had tucked into bloody meat.

The crowds had thinned when they returned to the common, several villagers gave them frightened looks as they scurried back to their homesteads.

The two guards were still there and another man now stood with them, an older human, balding on top and greying hair to just above his shoulders.

  
  


“You there!” Lidgnut said loudly. “Are you this burgomeister?”

  
  


The man jumped and turned. His eyes fixed on the body and he looked nervous.

  
  


“Ah you caught them! At least I presume that this the individual that undertook this foul murder.”

  
  


“Individual? You mean werewolf.” Lidgnut replied loudly, finally giving voice to the thought they had all had.

  
  


The burgomeister looked around hastily. “I’ve sent everyone back home. Can you come to my manor first thing tomorrow? I shall explain everything.”

  
  


“Is this normal. Being attacked by werewolves?” Lidgnut made no concession to be quiet. Luris noted that the two guards were eyeing them and the few stragglers left much more hurriedly. 

  
  


“Of course not.” The burgomeister replied. “But as a precaution I’ve sent everyone home. And in the morning, we can talk in more detail.”

  
  


Lidgnut seemed mollified. “Well, we’ll leave this here for you.” He gestured to Dyblyg who dumped the body unceremoniously to the ground. “And I need that body in the morning. I will have magics to compel it to talk.”

He turned and abruptly left.

  
  


“I think it fair to warn you that this one indicated, before we dispatched him, that he was not alone.” The burgomeister had stared after the departing Lidgnut, Dyblyg following, but he turned at Luris’ words.

“Indeed? Then I shall instruct the Watch to be extra vigilant for the time being.”

  
  


.Is yours the manor house north and east of Brethir?” Luris asked.

  
  


“What? Oh, yes. Would he really be able to speak with the dead?”

  
  


“I haven’t seen him do it. But if he says he can, then his god can probably grant him that power. Until the morning then.” He nodded and they all left, leaving the burgomeister watching them go.

  
  


The air was a little more subdued when they returned to the dorm, the shallow breathing in a couple of places suggesting that some souls were reflecting on mortality. But there were also snores from those who had partaken of too much to yet know of what had transpired and the companions were glad to find that their bedrolls had not been disturbed, retiring back for a few more hours of sleep.

As was their usual want, Dyblyg, Lidgnut and the two monks awoke early, to carry out their meditations or morning weapons practice. Sabroth and Sierra remained curled in their bedrolls a little longer until the clanking of Lidgnut doffing his armour stirred them from their slumber.

One of the half-orc servers was already up and was putting together a simple breakfast, largely intended to soak up any remaining alcohol. They ate quickly, aware that it seemed a little meagre based on the five gold it had cost them for a space for their own bedrolls but glad at another opportunity for a change of diet

Rutha disappeared against the lightening sky as the sun crested the horizon and the party moved out towards the manor house.

Standing just two storeys high, it nevertheless was a well-crafted building. A small garden of flowers stood to one side and a reasonable sized stable just visible around the back. They approached the building and Lidgnut took the lead, knocking heavily on the heavy door at the front.

He gestured to Sierra.

“Fancy using that broom of yours to keep an eye out while we chat to this guy?”

She seemed about to object a moment then nodded and kicked off into the air. As she departed, they heard the sounds of bolts retracing and it opened to reveal the burgomeister himself, looking tired but dressed in a fresh set of clothes. He gestured for them to take a seat in a room filled with a dining table and dressers. A simple breakfast of fresh loaves, fruit and cold meats had been laid out; obviously the burgomeister expecting them.

  
  


“Do please help yourselves.”

They did as the burgomeister introduced himself.

  
  


“A pleasure to meet you all. My name is Pahir and I am the burgomeister of this fair village. It is a shame you are here under these difficult circumstances.”

  
  


“Yes.”

  
  


Pahir regarded Lidgnut a moment to see if there was anything more but the dwarf had turned and was helping himself to a stack of meats.

  
  


“In truth, I would have sent for you this morning, in any case. I believe I am correct in believing you to be the ones who were at the  _ Inn and Bear It _ the evening before last?”

  
  


“That is true.” Luris replied. 

  
  


“And the one you slew is, I believe, a …” He paused and Luris finished speaking for him -

“-was a Slaughter Lord. Yes, if the hearsay on these is correct, we may have got lucky.”

  
  


“Nevertheless,” Pahir replied, “that was a powerful being that you dispatched. And I have need of those who are able to deal with such beings.”

  
  


“Why’s that?” Lidgnut queried.

  
  


“Well, we have a distinguished guest due here from Westruun in the next few days.One of the Council. Iit would be better that anything of ill intent in the area be routed or destroyed.”

  
  


Luris leaned back, exhaling. One of Westruun Council members down here! That would at least go some measure to explain why two of the Shields were in the area, though was that just to scout the area or was there some other purpose?

That made the presence though of a Slaughter Lord much more of a worry, even before the incident last night.

  
  


Lidgnut was about to speak when Luris beat him to it.

  
  


“Why are the Council of Westruun sending anyone down here?”

  
  


Pahir all but shrugged. “They seem to be visiting all around the Foramere. A census perhaps? It’s a little unclear but obviously we don’t want anything like last night's incident.”

  
  


“Yes,” said Lidgnut, glaring a little at Luris to see if he was going to interrupt again. “I get the impression that you were not surprised to learn that it was the work of a werewolf.”

  
  


“You are right Master Dwarf.” He took a moment, composing himself. “It is perhaps easier for me to show you.” The burgomeister rose and led them towards the rear of the house, through a decent sized cooking area.

As they followed, Luris noted the absence of any staff in the house, pretty much a mainstay anytime he had had occasion to make a delivery or message run to anyone of power. Exiting the house, they entered into a courtyard behind the house, providing an enclosed area from the stables. The stables looked a little neglected and Luris guessed at most only one or two horses were currently in the stalls.

Pahir led them to an angled door that appeared to lead under the house. It was more metal than wood and sturdy chains were tight across it. He fished a set of keys from around his neck and released the heavy duty padlocks with a practiced movement. Lifting one side, he gestured for them to follow.

Sierra drifted into view over the roof, eyeing them curiously. Lidgnut made a discrete gesture to remain out of sight as he followed, the rest behind them. At Pahir’s indication, Luris closed the door behind him, noting that the inside of the doors seemed particularly shiny.

They descended down dry stairs into an open basement. No windows and the only item of furniture was a single stool, bolted into the stone floor. Torches in the corners and centres of each of the walls flickered with magical light, giving the room a stark look.

Beyond the stool was the only other item. A slender set of bars had been set floor to ceiling separating a small area from the rest of the space. Behind the bars was a werewolf. It snarled as they arrived in the room, straining against a delicate looking filigree of iron, inlaid with silvery rune. As they tensed, they watched the werewolf shift to that of a young, slender woman with a marked resemblance to Pahir. The filigree shifted to keep her hands tight together before her, close to her chest while her legs were bound at the thighs and shins, room enough to flex but not to move apart.

The face was hidden behind a silver mask, arcane runes clear in the harsh light. The mask didn’t quite muffle a snarl that was most definitely not human and the figure shifted as they watched, pale grey fur erupting from a body that grew in mass. The filigree altered shape with the figure, blue eyes switching to yellow with a blink.

  
  


“By the Allhammer what is this?” Lidgnut exclaimed, his warhammer raised.

  
  


Pahir, before them, stared sadly at the writhing wolf hybrid.

  
  


“My daughter, Alissa.”

  
  


They stared at him, caught off guard. Alissa shifted again, the silver runes flashing as the restraints moulded to her changing form.

  
  


“What happened?”

  
  


“She went for a walk in the woods nearby not two months ago. And didn’t come back. I searched, we all searched for the entire night. She staggered back with the dawn, bloody, clothes ripped, savaged. But alive. 

“I praised the gods then. As she recuperated though, I began to notice the changes. Her nature became harsh and angry; she would only eat meat. Then raw meat. We were lucky and recognised the cause before she lost all control.”

He closed his eyes, and took a moment to recollect himself.

  
  


“I sent for the best sages, doctors and clerics in the area. All sworn to secrecy and none able to prevent or undo what had been wrought to her.”

  
  


“Are you sure?” Lidgnut said, boldly. “Werewolves are a curse. It is a simple matter to remove a curse.”

  
  


“That’s what we thought to start Master Dwarf. But the curse that binds her is much stronger than any could have seen.”

  
  


“I’m sure you didn’t do it right,” He moved forward. Pahir watched in with a curious mix of resignation, despair and hope. Lidgnut crouched next to the bars, and began to chant to the Allhammer. Luris moved to one side and the girl's blue eyes snapped to the movement; and Lidgnut put his hand through to briefly clasp her shoulder.

A line of divine light coursed over her body. She shivered and looked at him blankly. Then snarled and changed back into the wolf hybrid, snapping at him. Lidgnut stood smartly and regarded her.

“Well, that is interesting.”

  
  


“As I said, Master Dwarf,“ Pahir said wearily, “The curse is strong and magics that I have had tried, well, have had no greater effect than your own. Sages have been summoned and research has already been undertaken, even as far as Westruun. We believe that we understand more of what is going on. Can we please return upstairs though?”

They nodded and trooped out, the snarls pursuing them out. Pahir was careful to close and relock the entrance to the cellar.

He took a deep breath before he looked at them again.

“What do you all know of this area?”

  
  


“A little,” said Lidgnut after a moment of silence.

  
  


“Well then. A few decades ago, Brethir was little more than a hamlet, just somewhere for the fishing boats of a larger town, Crocha, set into the foothills to the east. Prospectors had uncovered a rich vein of ore and Crocha appeared, almost overnight, a suddenly bustling mining town.

“The miners continued to dig as the ore continued to allow Crocha to grow.” He was staring to the east, towards the mountains they had skirted on the journey here from Stilben and his face clouded.

“But then they uncovered something underground. Released something. I’m told it was a Spirit of Lycanthropy and it tore through Crocha without mercy. Many perished and the town ceased to be overnight.

“However, somehow, a cure was found and the werewolf threat was wiped out. The cure was secured into the temple at the centre of the town and the temple blessed to prevent any attempt for the cure to be used for wrongdoing.

“You must understand this was sometime ago, before Brethir began to flourish in its own right.”

  
  


“Hence why the cure we need is in the centre of what is now likely to be heaving with werewolves.”

  
  


Pahir shrugged.

  
  


“Where is this Crocha?” Dyblyg asked.

  
  


“It’s almost due east of here within the lower reaches of the mountains, though you need head south first to reach the pass that leads to the valley it was based in.”

  
  


“And don’t we need to head west for our destination?” It was clear to all the Dyblyg did not see why they needed to deal with this - his hunt for his missing initiate didn’t require dealing with a potential nest of werewolves.

Luris and Lidgnut shared a long look. Dyblyg wasn’t going to like this.

  
  


“Aye, in the wrong direction it may be but I’m not happy leaving this behind us without dealing with it,” Lidgnut said.

“And if a Westruun Council Member is in the area, we have to make sure they remain safe. Depending on who it is, that could cause issues all across the Plains. That we have Ravagers in the area as well is a cause for concern. This is bigger than the search for one initiate.”

Thazak, oh so keen to reach the temples and potentially resolve the issue of his forever burning hometown, was nodding in reluctant agreement.

  
  


“It would be greatly appreciated if you could help,” Pahir said, his gaze swapping from Dyblyg to the rest. “I hate to pressure you into a decision but I’m lead to believe that if this isn't resolved soon my poor Alissa will be forever cursed.”

  
  


“How soon is soon?” Lidgnut asked. Luris already had an idea.

  
  


“The end of the blood moon.”

  
  


“That’s less than four days.”

  
  


Pahir just nodded. “Of course, I can reimburse you for your time once you get back with the cure.”

  
  


Lidgnut just nodded. “Of course, if some of the tales are true of werewolves, Dyblyg and Sabroth are going to have issues without any kid of enchanted weapon.”

  
  


“Would silver work?” Pahir asked.

  
  


“What?”

  
  


“Well, I was expecting to have a weapon silvered for you all. I mean, it’s a lot of silver and it’ll include some of my own family heirlooms but I think I can get silver for a weapon for you all. The smith is a quiet lass who will assist me to do -”

Lidgnut had raised a hand, thinking.

  
  


“Would your god’s blessing allow you to do that?” Luris asked, guessing what he was concentrating upon.

“Aye, I think it may at that. I could have that complete before we reach this Crocha if we set off today. Presume then a day to obtain the cure and a third to get back. Going to be pushing it.”

  
  


Dyblyg sighed and moved away to lean against a wall.

  
  


“I’m sorry, what’s happening?”

  
  


“What’s happening is that we only need sufficient silver for two of our party and we don’t need to wait for your smith to do the work.” He turned to Luris. “Do we still want to talk to the dead man?”

  
  


“I think so. We have the chance to learn something before we set off.”

  
  


“Right, let’s get this silver and go speak to the body. Where is it?”

  
  


“The body? Well, it’s at the watch house, as requested.”

  
  


“What? Oh, really?” He stared at Luris who stared straight back “You sure it’s needed?”. Luris just nodded, firmly. “Fine, just the silver then.”

“Follow me Master Dwarf and we shall assemble what you require.”

  
  


For a dwarf who had a moment before been keen to set off, Lidgnut didn’t hurry when receiving the silver. Sierra flew down as she saw the rest lounging outside the house while Lidgnut returned indoors to get the silver. Which he returned with, several minutes later, also carrying a fairly well drawn map of the area.

“Come on let’s go!” He handed the map to Luris and set off back towards Brethir. The village was much quieter than it had been when they arrived the previous day; whether this was news of the vicious attack, or just the still early hour was not entirely clear. 

The guards at the gate directed them to the watch house and it was just a few moments later when the door was opened by an older gentleman, pipe hanging from the corner of his mouth.

“Ah and you must be the lot here to speak to the body.” Considering the early hour, and the subject matter, he seemed surprisingly breezy. 

Grabbing a steaming mug of something brown, chattering non-stop in a low drawl,.he led them towards the back of the building to what appeared to be a largely a storeroom, However, someone had cleared off a table in the middle and there was a fabric wrapped bundle upon it.

“There’s your man. Hasn’t moved since he came in.” He remained in the corridor, watching them keenly.

Lidgnut entered. The table was low enough that he could see across it and he unwrapped the face of the corpse. Holding his symbol, he began to pray. The room appeared to get steadily darker, and shadows flickered at the sides of the eyes. Luris saw his breath misting, frost forming on the metalwork in the room.

With a great inhalation, the corpse breathed in, filling it’s lungs, the breath rasping as it was forced through the destroyed cartilage. The pipe clattered as the watchman stared aghast; though he had the presence of mind to not drop the mug he held.

Even as Lidgnut finished the incantation and the body moved, he shifted straight into another prayer and Luris felt the same compulsion against telling lies that the dwarf had used in Rickett's Bog.

He nodded imperceptibly then focused his attention on the corpse as the head jerked to the side to regard him.

“How many of your kind are there?” Lidgnut asked first.

Too many to defeat

  
  


“Not my best opening question. Where is your pack based?”

Crocha

  
  


“Feel like we already knew that.” He glanced up at them

  
  


“At least it’s confirmed.” Sabroth shrugged.

  
  


“Well, if we are doing that,”said Lidgnut, turning back to the corpse, it’s chest slowly deflating. “Who is the leader of your pack?”

The Spirit of Lycanthropy leads us

  
  


“At least confirms that burgomeisters story.” He looked at the others to see if they had any burning questions. He had explained on the way back that he had just five questions he could ask then any resemblance of the spirit would be lost beyond the veil.

Sierra shifted and Lidgnut looked back to the body before him

  
  


“What secret entrances are there to Crocha?”

  
  


I know not of secret entrances

  
  


There was an echo now to the words, a whisper on the edge of hearing, as if the words were now coming from a distance.

Lidgnut looked back up at them. Luris gave the rest a moment then asked the question that had been troubling him

  
  


“Is there a link between the lycanthropes and the Ravagers?”

  
  


Lidgnut nodded, accepting the question and repeated it to whatever spirit he was conversing with.

  
  


No link to the Ravagers

  
  


As the last syllable was uttered, the last of the air was forced from the lungs and the utterance seemed to rush past them, whisking the shadows and the cold away. The head slumped to the side and it was once again just a corpse.

  
  


“By Erathis …” said the guard, staring at Lidgnut.

The dwarf wiped his hands and headed out. He looked over to Dyblyg, already looking impatient. “Right, let's go. Before our dragonborn friend bursts something.”

Luris gave a quick thanks to the guard who dumbly nodded, absently taking a drink from the steaming mug before exclaiming as the now freezing liquid caught him by surprise.

  
  


Pahir had also been able to restock their rations, though they had largely been living off what Luris had been catching as they travelled and they were able to head straight out of the southern gate to Brethir. Though the track saw some wear in the vicinity of Brethir, it became obvious over the course of the day that it was largely only used by the farms in the area which quickly petered out until it was just scrubland up to the hills and mountains ahead. Brethir’s expansion, such as it wise, had turned its back on it’s once neighbour.

With Sierra largely on the broom above them, they continued onwards for the rest of the morning, speaking infrequently, though Dyblyg sighed and muttered to himself a lot. They stopped for a rest as the sun passed noon, Lidgnut took the bulk of his rest to sit praying to the Allhammer, Dylblyg’s greatsword and a pile of silver coin before him.

It was a slightly eerie process to watch as a radiant glow obscured everything then revealed the metal, now apparently melted, slowly oozing to cover the blade of the sword, the horizontal movement more akin to some form of living entity than a liquid, swirling in a rhythm to Lidgnuts hands as they passed over the blade.

His mutters and shakes of the head were noticeably reduced as they continued through the afternoon, and a good amount of time he spent stared at the now polished metal, reflecting his face back at him.

They reached the first rises in mid-afternoon and pushed on through along the weathered and faded track until it twisted into a wide gorge that split the hill line before them. They entered and the air immediately turned cold, the sun largely now hidden by the rise of the rocky crag to their left.

It curled through the rock and opened out a little, revealing patches of scrub and small trees, obscuring growths of hardy plants to each side of the track as it weaved through the crags, thirty feet tall to each side.

With the sky darkening above them, the northern wall opened out into a small patch of land dotted with thick leaved bushes, all largely turned to brown and golden brown in the autumn.

The track continued along the southern edge and beyond, the ongoing rocky terrain blocking much of the view ahead. The party decided that this seemed somewhere they could rest for the night, from the directions that Pahir had given them, this rocky pass should open into the small forested valley that Crocha had rested amongst in just a few miles.

The thick growth would help to obscure them if anything passed along the track in the night and they checked the walls to make sure there was no cave. Other than a depression that was recessed maybe ten foot into the rocky cliffs, they found nothing and Lidgnut and Thazak both checked that it wasn’t in fact some secret entrance.

Lidgnut again spent an hour in communion with his god, more silver and Sabroth’s greatsword before him. Again the result was a weapon with a polished blade and now they all had at least one weapon that would damage a werewolf, if the tales of them being all but impervious to physical damage were to be believed.

The night closed in swiftly.

*** 

Luris sat near the remains of the campfire, long extinguished. He looked at the portcullis pendant that he had requested from Sabroth, pondering upon it. Lidgnut was the only one present who had looked into these more, the visible icon of the cult that had seemingly sprung up overnight in Stilben, the Dawn’s Blessings, or whatever they called themselves.

However, during the excursion to the K’Tawl Swamp, the cult seemed to have all but vanished from the streets of Stilben and they hadn’t really had time to look into them before their hasty exit from Stilben. Lidgnut had mentioned the pendant had been able to overcome some manner of arcane barrier that ultimately led them to the distillery, or at least the sewers underneath there.

The fighting had been frantic on their abortive attempt to get inside though Luris still remembered the mutated fighters opposing them, the pulsing tentacles where a human hand should have been. He couldn’t remember if any of those had been wearing the portcullis icon. What was the link with Oreanna? Had she set up the cult? Or was she just a member?

  
  


“What are you wanting me to see, Changebringer?” He muttered quietly to himself.

  
  


Echoing through the gorge came a wolf’s howl. It took a moment for the sound to register; when it did, he hastily put the pendant into a pouch and sprang to his feet, eyes checking before them. The bushes largely hid them from the track, but it also hid the track from them.

Quietly, he padded along his companions sleeping forms, rousing them as quietly as he could.

  
  


“We have trouble.”

  
  


Sierra and Thazak were up and about, eyes scanning the limited view. Lidgnut woke noisily, and grumbled, trying to get his boots on and his pauldrons secured. With a hiss, Dyblyg hurried over to help, as Sabroth stretched, yawning, drawing his sword as he did so..

There was another howl, this time several more following. And close.

  
  


“Changebringer, bless our vision,” Luris murmured and his eyes flashed the twilight hue. He heard the others notice the enhanced vision he had just graced them with as he stepped a little ways forward, Sabroth and Thazak also making a rough line. Sierra stood to the rear, astride the broom and crossbow loosely aimed to cover the actions of Lidgnut as he hurried to get the last bits of his armour on.

Movement in the bushes caught their eye. One, two, then more of the werewolves stalked into partial view, using the dropping leaves for cover, their yellow eyes gleaming through the decaying leaves and their dark fur almost lost against the dark of the night.

There was another howl - in fact more of a bark.

Three spears just seemed to emerge from still bushes, one each for the front line fighters. Luris easily parried one to the ground; Thazak didn’t even move as another flew alongside to clatter against the stone wall. The noise distracted Sabroth enough that a third cut into his leg as it landed by him.

Thazak had clenched his teeth, he let out a wordless cry and a small fire appeared on the palm of one hand, already drawn to his side. He cupped his other hand behind it and as his cry increased in volume, he thrust his hands forward. The little wisp of fire arced through the air to one side, where Luris made out two lupine shadows.

As it hit the ground, it rapidly, violently, erupted, engulfing a number of bushes in a scorching fireball. Bestial howls of pain filled the air, at least one fur lined body igniting in the sudden intense heat. The bushes in the fiery explosion immediately cause ablaze, flickering orange light now stabbing between the dark branches.

As if the cue, the rest of the party reacted. Luris heard Sierra kick off from the ground behind him, Sabroth and Dyblyg running to each side, silvered weapons reflecting the flames in their own muted display. A swarm of spectral hammers manifested in a whirling cloud around Lidgnut. 

Luris lunged forward, a prayer to the Changebringer on his lips, spear ready as he felt the divine protection settle on his form.

The snarling werewolves leapt to meet them and combat was joined.


	4. Of fire and shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the threat from the werewolves now apparent, our party continue into the ruins of Crocha seeking the cure. But something is stalking them in the shadows ...

Flames from the burning bushes lit the walls of the canyon; these were mirrored in Thazak's fists as spectral fiery wisps of energy formed around his fists and forearms. 

Running alongside Lidgnut, Thazak punched out and the wisps on his right arms shot out, forming the image of a striking snake.The snake’s head slammed into a werewolves head and it staggered, the spectral hammers of Lidgnut whipping into it as Thazak took off into the bushes for a moment, two sharp cracks in quick succession.

There was the sound of battle to Luris’ right, Dyblyg’s snarls mixing with the howls of several of the foe. Luris closed on the one in range of Lidgnut as the dwarf added his spiritual weapon to the cloud of hammers encircling him, blunt heads impacting into the werewolf on all sides, still dazed from Thazak’s strike.

But the hammers didn’t affect Luris and he moved into a graceful arc that ripped the creatures throat out. He espied a further werewolf beyond Lidgnut’s spectral guardians and moved in, feigning a stab, before driving the butt of  _ Scalesplitter _ into the creature's snout. It whimpered, eyes watering. Luris leant in and caught it across the head with his elbow. As he moved back to an attack stance, he recognised that the unarmed blow had not really impacted.

He could hear the meaty impacts of Sabroth's swings and caught Thazak pushing into view. The flames on his forearms merged as he put his wrists together and a cone of flame burst forward; followed by shrieks of pain from at least two werewolves out of sight of Luris. Thazak lunged after the flames, disappearing from Luris’ view.

The werebeast before him recovered fast enough to bat away his next strike; Luris twisted on the spot whipping the spear around and over his turned shoulder to cut into it. He channeled his ki and the world slowed around him, shrieking howls becoming low undulating moans and the crackle of the burning foliage casting slow moving shadows across them all.

Luris heard the drawn out thwip of  _ Silvertongue _ above and behind him, as Sierra fired again against the werewolves battling Dyblyg and his echo. To one side, an almost crystalline structure of blood droplets silhouetted against burning branches slowly weaved through the air, before coming to rest in an expanding pattern against dull bark. Sabroth’s sword followed, a patina of blood upon it and an eviscerated body, red flesh vivid against the dark fur, already returning pale as the lycanthropy curse was lifted on the being’s demise.

Sabroth himself followed, face contorted in a rictus of fury, eyes coming to rest upon the werewolf before Luris. It’s scowl deepened and it lunged jaw first at Sabroth who used the flat of the blade to parry it aside. It moved with the force, absorbing the blow and wheeled on one foot, clawed hand raking towards Luris.

The monk calmly caught the claws on the mid of the spear haft.

As his channeled ki expired, Thazak emerged from the ruddy leaves to the side of the werewolf before it could steady itself. The first blow broke it’s jaw; ripping through its snout; the second pushed ribs into lungs and his final uppercut caught it as it fell, snapping the neck as it collapsed, form shifting into that of an eldery human.

They looked over to see the final werewolf falling backwards, another of Sierra’s crossbow bolts straight through the forehead.

  
  


Sabroth’s exhausted panting was underpinned by the crackling of fire but there were no howls, barks. Dyblyg looked like he had been slashed several times, though his echo stood to attention. The dragonborn’s form flickered and also went grey.

“That’s it general! We need to get it done!” His normal metallic colour returned and he looked around blankly.

  
  


“Hey, do you see it?” They all turned as Sierra called to them. She was pointing to the top of the cliff, bringing the crossbow around but whatever she was taking aim at must have vanished as she didn’t complete the action; inside bringing the broom around and flying closer.

Lidgnut let the hammer’s dissipate and began to magically create water, slowly damping the fire as Luris smashed down nearby branches to prevent it spreading further. Dyblyg began to drag the bodies into a pile.

  
  


“Don’t see you using those fire powers often, Thazak.” Luris remarked between swings.

  
  


Thazak grunted. “The Everlight has no compassion for those who are beyond redemption. If we can not find the cure, then this is all we can do.”

  
  


Sabroth seemed a little taken aback but Luris just nodded as he carried on, privately wondering what it would have been like to see him defend Rickett’s Bog by himself. 

  
  


Sierra returned from her flight, looking perplexed.

  
  


“What did you see?” Lidgnut asked, pausing between summonings of water.

  
  


“Dunno. Like a shadow but red eyes. Vanished before I got a good look. Definitely no footprints, paw prints or anything up there.”

The rest of the night passed without incident and the party awoke to a grey, dull day, a definite chill to the air that could have marked the start proper of the autumn. Or could mark the atmosphere around them. As they continued along the track, the bushes became more sparse and more bare branches visible. With the sun behind the clouds, and the shadows of the rocky walls to each side, Luris could see some of his companions pulling on travel cloaks a little tighter.

The group paused for a quick, uncooked, lunch and pressed on as the sun reached what would have been noon. Not long after, the gorge opened out before them.

They stood on a outcrop, which gave them the first view of this valley and of Crocha. The valley was small, maybe a dozen miles. It largely seemed to be forest, a swathe of brown leaves across almost every tree, far in advance of the turning colours of the trees around Brethir. A single road was visible, striking through the middle, weaving from the base of the outcrop to the buildings at the far end. Even from here, it was clear the buildings were in a state of disrepair, even the large temple that was just about visible at the far end of the crumbling town.

Dark smudges against the rocky walls suggested mine shafts cut into the mountain sides that Crocha squatted amongst. 

There was nothing to be gained by loitering and the group set off to the side, where the track snaked down against the southern wall of this valley. 

Luris dallied a little more to the back, keeping a discrete eye on Lidgnut. He was pretty sure that the dwarf had been bitten last night. And whilst all of their natural healing, and the reinforcement from Lidgnuts own divine given power had seen them returned to physical health this morning. He pondered praying to his goddess to check if he was infected but stopped himself. He had no means to remove the disease, or curse, whatever it was and Lidgnuts failed attempt with Pahirs daughter meant that Lidgnut too also had no current means to undo anything that had been wrought. They needed to get to the temple and find the cure.

The track curved around the base of the outcropping then headed through the trees, winding slowly so that there was not a clear line of sight. Up close, they could see that rather than the leaves turning brown for autumn, the leaves looked dead, as did the trees. Withered and gnarled, it looked as though a blight had descended on the flora in this valley, leaving the ground yellow and parched and the tree lifeless where they stood.

Pushing on along, Luris began to feel a nagging sensation of being watched. There was also something, not quite a taste, but something that irked him for a few moments as they travelled along the track. Pondering on it, he realised that it was putting him in mind of the area that had surrounded the temple to Torog in the swamp.

“Eyes up,” Muttered Dyblyg as he saw movement in the trees ahead. Sierra was already on her broom and readied her crossbow as a group of figures began to emerge ahead of them.

They cautiously approached a little further and skirting a large, almost petrified, tree saw more details of the group before them.

In fact two groups, though both appeared to be similar, lanky humanoid forms, grey skin stretched taut over a wiry physique. Luris and the dwarves bristled as they noted the sunken, burning eyes, clawed fingers and gaping maws.

  
  


“Undead,” Lidgnut snarled.

  
  


Thazak was already reacting, the small fiery ball of energy forming in his palm. He cried out as he thrust his hands forward and the mote of energy flew into the midst of the group before detonating in a burst of fire, most of the creatures staggering from the impact. 

Luris started running as Thazak threw the ball of fire,  _ Scalesplitter  _ already poised. Angling, Luris lunged towards the nearest figure which hissed angrily at him, a long tongue lolling from it’s open mouth, muscles tensing. He ripped a chunk out with the swing, before he came aware of the stench coming from the creature, like a physical miasma. He steeled himself and channeled his ki, the undead creature going rigid.

Luris took advantage and drove his elbow into its chest, hearing and feeling bones crack under the blow. Aware that others of these creatures, - these ghasts? - were closing in, he continued to let the ki flow through him, his perception slowing as the ghast before him slowly keeled over onto its back

He heard the thud as Dyblyg dropped his silvered greatsword, pulling his glaive from it’s mount. His echo appeared, a slight pop as it displaced the air and it slashed towards another ghast, once, twice.

The dragonborn had recognised the foul air that surrounded the ghast and visibly closed his nostrils and jaw, braving the stench. He had called on his own reserves and Luris was aware of him continuing past the ghast, even as the first of Sierra’s bolts whistled down.

A third ghast jerked to it’s side and sharp claws cut the air then cut into Thazak. The dwarf's eyes widened then he froze, apparently paralysed. Sierra’s second bolt cut into it.

Sabroth and Lidgnut strode into the fray, weapons swinging, smashing down the ghoul like creatures in the second group. Lidgnut spectral hammer appeared swinging down on the ghast that had cut into Thazak.

Off to the side Dyblyg was inhaling then he opened his mouth wide and a crackling beam of lightning shot out, playing around the nearby ghasts. Skin sizzled and flesh burned as two of the foul creatures cried out in pain.

Luris’ slo-mo view ended as the lightning crackled across his vision. One hand went to his belt and pulled out two of the darts he kept there, throwing them both in quick succession into the face of the final ghast; it staggered back and collapsed, face first.

One of the burnt ghasts, the smoking marks vivid on it’s grey skin, sliced into Dyblyg with its claws and the dragonborn scowled in pain, though whatever paralysis Thazak was fighting off, didn’t seem to affect him.

Lidgnut grunted as another undead creature bit into him - his armour preventing the creature breaking the skin but recoiling from the impact. He slammed back into the creature and it fell to the ground.

There was a last flurry of blows from Sabroth and Dyblyg and suddenly all were still again. Clouds of noxious fumes still lingered over the bodies they had felled and the companions decided not to examine the corpses more closely.

  
  


“Guess I’ve lost those bolts then,” Sierra remarked from her perch on the broom and Luris nodded, thinking of his darts.

Dyblyg was standing still and the claw marks on his body closed, though they remained raw and angry looking. Without a word, he picked up the maul which he stowed on it’s mount and left the glaive handy should any more of the undead creatures assault them as they continued through the brown flora.

The ruined buildings of Crocha came into view under the overcast weather, the number of trees obscuring the crumbling brickwork until they were only tens of feet away. They were passing a lamppost, standing incongruously on the side of the track, a green witch light glowing from it when a howl brought all their attention forward. 

At the corner of the nearest building stood a werewolf, back arching as it stood snout high, a wailing howl echoing around the ramshackle remains. Even before it finished and turned to regard them angrily, a torrent of werebeasts streamed into view.

At a quick glance, Luris could see several werewolves, an equal number of some form of werepig and nearly double that amount of a were rodent of some 

  
  


“Not good.”

  
  


Right then he was glad he normally had the spear stowed as he swiftly pulled out the longbow that they had lifted from Ruby’s unfortunate remains in the temple to Torog; the quiver already on his belt.

The first arrow was in the air as his companions reached for weapons; the second following as the first sunk deep into one of the onrushing creatures and as the second also hit home, that little ball of fire almost casually wafted past into the midst of the hoarder. The explosion of fire engulfed a half dozen or more; a couple diving to the floor to escape the worse of the blast.

The front runners were much quicker than the companions expected and Dyblyg just barely brought his weapon up to meet the goring strike of one of the were beasts, seemingly more of a boar than a pig at this close range.

  
  


“We need to go!” Luris shouted; his words half-lost in the cacophony of howls, grunts and squeaks from the horde closing on them.

Lidgnuts voice rose in prayer and a mass of faintly glowing hammers appeared around him; he leapt to engage one werewolf that had skirted to the side of Dyblyg, it twisted under the swing of his warhammer.

As they faced off, another of the wereboars traded blows with Sabroth, the barbarians icy rage lending weight to his strikes, raining down upon the wereboar with meaty crunches.

Sierra was flying off to the side, her bolts shooting down as fast as she could fire - but Luris had the impression her attention was largely towards the trees off to the side, as if she could see something more out there.

With their current luck, more were-creatures he thought as he again took aim. He paused as he saw the were-rodents slow as they approached, pulling out hand crossbows and taking largely ineffective shots but the sheer number was a cause for concern. He landed his next arrow on another werewolf closing into range with Dyblyg but his fourth went wide in his attempt to not hit his own group, now firmly embroiled in the fray.

  
  


“Don’t fight them here!” He yelled, knowing it was in vain. Movement to his side caught his eye and he turned to see Thazak intercepting a wereboar that had tried to flank them. The dwarf’s fists pummeled the were-creature and it staggered against a tree trunk, dazed.

One werewolf sank to the floor, overcome by it’s wounds but more of the savage creatures had arrived. Dyblyg now fighting a desperate struggle against two werewolves and unable to stop a wereboar ripping it’s tusks along his side, even as another wererat threw aside it’s hand crossbow and leapt to attack him as well; a second harassing Sabroth who already had blood running down his arm from a bite.

  
  


Lidgnut’s cloud of spectral hammers were slowing them down and his main spiritual weapon slammed into the side of the werewolf bearing down on him.

To Luris, trading a look with Thazak, it was clear they needed to get clear as quickly as possible before the sheer numbers overwhelmed them all


	5. Tusk, tooth, blade, and blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our party have reached Crocha but there are many werecreatures between them and their goal ...

Luris knew the bow wasn’t doing more than annoying them - it was clear that magical attacks, or silvered weapons, were the only way to damage the were-creatures rushing them. Nevertheless he loosened off another shot as he moved along the path until he could get a clear line of sight on Dyblyg in the turmoil.

“Changebringer protect you,” He chanted and saw the flicker of divine energy around Dyblyg as he stowed the bow, ready to grab out  _ Scalesplitter _ for the running retreat they would have to do.

  
  


“Run!” He yelled.

  
  


While Luris was readying himself to be a bulwark as the rest passed him, Thazak committed to a more forward approach. Ignoring the stunned wereboar near him, the dwarf charged back into the fray. The wereboar that had slashed Dyblyg was rearing back to take another strike when the dwarf slammed a fist into its armpit, striking into a nerve cluster.

Deftly Thazak spun around the suddenly stilled being, gracefully dodging swings from one, then two wererats and using his speed to slam his knuckles precisely into a werewolf’s kidneys. It arched back as he reversed the blow, driving an elbow into one of the wererats that had swung for him.

Dyblyg suddenly found two of his attackers stunned and he was able to raise his guard against the other werewolf close to him, enough to stop a mighty blow though he staggered back weakly after the clash, vulnerable.

  
  


A new voice boomed across the tumult - “Quickly, my abode shall protect you all! This way!” The voice came from a large human creature striding out from a building that looked almost as ruined as another. As he approached, his form shifted, his features turning more ursine.

The two were creatures near to Lidgnut pushed their attack, fighting through the spectral hammers to swing and bite at him, splatters of blood on their weapons. Dyblygs echo was running now, passing under the floating form of Sierra jinking to avoid return shots from the wererats as she peppered the werecreatures from above. 

As Dyblyg parried another blow, the grey scaled echo was suddenly in the fray then vanished as Dyblyg, now where the echo had been continued to head into Crocha, drawing near to the bear-like form that had shouted them; it gestured to the house it had exited but kept its attention on the fray.

Lidgnut pushed his attacker back and the Spiritual Hammer smacked into the back of the head of the werewolf. Lidgnut leveled his warhammer towards the wereboar and cried for the Allhammer. The hammer pulsed and a blinding actinic blast of energy slammed into the creature, sending it staggering, it’s form glowing with radiant energy. 

It growled at the dwarf then coughed up blood as Sabroth’s weapon impacted its back and it fell to the ground, form shifting as the life left it. Sabroth stepped through, spinning and caught a leaping wererat, slamming it’s form into the dirt with a single, bone-crunching thump. Momentarily clear, he skirted more of the creatures, angling to get to the apparent haven.

Sierra kept up her covering fire, one bolt sinking deep into a wererats skull as they now closed the gap. She winced as a bolt skimmed her side, then another opened a wound on her thigh.

Luris had  _ Scalesplitter _ out by now, ducking past a wereboar and sprinting past the conflict. Dyblyg was ahead of him, leaning against a crumbling bricking wall, a wide smear of blood in his wake and the goliath called on the Changebringer again, divine healing magic triggering the dragonborns own innate healing.

Ducking away from another wererat, Thazak drove one fist into the hip of the stunned wereboar. As it fell, a palm heel strike cracked into it’s sternum and it fell to the floor, another body changing back to an older human. Channelling the last of his ki, Thazak nimbly darted around the remaining creatures before coming alongside Luris and Dyblyg.

There was a triumphant roar and they all turned to see Lidgnut’s form fall into the dirt, the spectral hammers vanishing and the spiritual weapon just hovering still in the air, the two werewolves over his form, turning for their next target. The last of the wereboars had shaken off Thazak earlier stunning strike and engaged with Sabroth, weapons clashing before it used its tusks to score Sabroth’s arm. The aasimar ignored the wound, pushing the creature back before swinging his weapon around and driving it into the wereboars head. As he shook it free, it’s form transforming, he yelled and slammed into a wererat taking a bead at Sierra. 

Dyblyg pushed himself from the wall, and skewered another wererat. Sierra and the two monks were already moving. As Luris and Thazak ducked and weaved around the last few wererats, a clear intent of reaching the werewolves turning to meet them, Sierra already was closing the gap. She made no attempt to engage them but swung the broom in low, skidding under a wild swing to reach Lidgnut, a potion of healing already in her hand which she poured into his mouth.

The werewolves, snarling at her, started suddenly, one with Luris’ spear driving into its side. It wrenched itself away, swinging wildly at him. Its fellow grunted as Thazak punched it but somehow it easily dodged his swinging backfist. Luris noted Thazak had a bloody wound along one arm; a shallow but ragged wound that, in the back of his mind, looked like one of the wererats had managed to score a hit as he had gone by.

The werewolf before him lunged with it’s jaws; he avoided the teeth but felt the impact jar him. As it snarled at him, he caught movement to his side and Dyblyg’s echo swung at the distracted wolf before Thazak, impaling it. Even as it fell, the echo shimmered and just suddenly had its sword embedded in the one before Luris. Life blood from both creatures pooled as their forms joined the others that they had somehow killed.

As Dyblyg concentrated on his echo, he was unaware of the wererat closing on him until there was a meaty smack and Lidgnut’s Spiritual hammer caved it’s skull in. Lidgnut slowly stood, divine energy around his hands closing his own wounds.

  
  


“Well, that sucked.” 

  
  


“The wards of my house will protect. But we need to get there before the rest arrive,” called the hybrid bear creature, words a little distorted around the snout.

There were now just a few wererats left and they realised that they were abruptly outnumbered. One swung at Dyblyg and there was a spark of energy as the divine shield Luris had conjured turned the blow. It ducked away, headed into the trees as the other rats fired almost blindly, keen now to escape.

  
  


“Get to the house!” Luris called. He and Thazak moved ahead then turned to await as the bear creature lingering, lumbering alongside Lidgnut. The rest hurried inside, sprinting for the building as a cacophony of howls and squeals echoed through the ruined buildings. They had clearly defeated one group but there was a much larger number of lycanthropes now closing in on them.

A sonorous bell tone cut through the noise for a moment and one of the were-rats collapsed, Lidgnut nodding as he lowered his hand and he hurried forward. The monks let him go pass then they filled in behind him. The bear creature came last, his form morphing into that of a well built burly man with bushy hair and beard, wearing just breeches and ragged trousers. He gestured at something and a ward flared around the perimeter of the building then he ducked inside, slamming the door and dropping a bar across it.

There was a moment of stillness then he inhaled and turned to them. The building was relatively small, a living space with separate kitchen, sealed off from a ramshackle second wing. Through the windows, they could see now werecreatures of various hues arriving in the space outside of the house, howls of rage at the fallen bodies of their kin.

Before any of the party could speak, the now human strode over to Dyblyg, clapping him on the shoulder in a familiar gesture.

“Johann! Good to see you. It’s been so long.”

  
  
  


Dyblyg eyed him cautiously. “Afraid I am not this ‘Johann’ you speak of.”

  
  


The curly haired man regarded him for a moment then his eyes unfocussed momentarily. He shook his head and lifted his hand.

  
  


“Yes I, I’m sorry. It’s just … it’s hard to concentrate.” He looked around at them all. “You should not be here, any of you.” He looked at them, frowning as he saw Lidgnut dabbing at a ragged wound. “That accused hound.” His gaze took in the rest of them, growing darker as he saw the wounds oozing still from Sabroth and Thazak and more so as he looked back to Dyblyg who swayed a little as the adrenaline wore out of his system and the injuries took hold. “It’s been this way for far too long.”

He rummaged through his possessions, somehow finding enough stools and crates to provide everyone a seat. Luris excused himself and took his cooks utensil’s into the kitchen area. There was limited food available, definitely the stock of someone who scavenged for food and he had to pull out the last of the plainscow haunches he had cut a few days ago, along with several of the rations. But he was able to put together a reasonable stew in short time, taking a moment to invoke the Changebringers blessings over it.

If there was time for a rest at this place, then there would be opportunity for at least some of the damage inflicted to be undone. Luris noted that Sierra drifted over to the kitchen and recognised that she was keeping an eye on everyone else in the building, the threat of lycanthropy making her suspicious of their companions.

  
  


“You can rest here as needed,” the owner of the building was saying, watching out through the window as the creatures beyond circled. “It’s not much but it is home.”

  
  


“Who are you?” Lidgnut asked. “We weren’t expecting any kind of friendly face here.”

  
  


“And you would be right not to expect one. I’m sorry. I am not used to guests any more.” He turned back to face them. “My name is Luthor. I am, I was, once a cleric for Crocha.” Luris peered through the door for a moment and could not see any pendants or symbols of any god upon this Luthor. He returned to his work with the food, listening.

“It all changed the day the Spirit of Lycanthropy was unearthed in the mines. That darkness tore through the inhabitants of Crocha. We did what we could but our power then was not enough to remove it’s curse. And once we had a cure, it was too late. For us and our town.” Luthor paused, lost in memories. “At the end, we decided the only way was to split the cure; one of our number, still unblemished by the curse, took the details of the ritual away. That was Johann.

“Meanwhile the artifacts needed were sealed in the temple, beyond the reach of the foul spirit, or so we hoped at the time.” Luthor was looking through them, lost in his own remembrances. “It was kept safe but the Spirit of Lycanthropy has had many years to gather its strength.”

  
  


“And without the ritual parts that this Johann took, well are you saying that there is nought that can be done?” Lidgnut glared at him intently.

  
  


“Yes, master dwarf. That’s about the shape of it. Unless you plan to attack the Spirit directly, you’ll need to align the parts from the temple and the ritual.”

  
  


“And you have no idea where this Johann went?”

  
  


“Not a clue. Which was the idea.”

  
  


Lidgnut looked glumly at the food Luris handed out to all. “And dare I ask how long ago this Johann left?”

  
  


“It would be many years by this point.”

  
  


Lidgnut sighed and slumped in the chair. “So he could quite literally be anyway at this point.”

  
  


The atmosphere was low as they mechanically ate, divine blessings in the food triggering their innate healing - Luthor slightly taken aback as he watched wounds heal over, though his brow darkened as he saw the slashes and bites of the were creatures remained livid red and somewhat inflamed, and he became lost in obvious introspection.

It wasn’t quiet - yaps, barks and squeaks came from outside from a host of werecreatures. They didn’t seem to approach the house from the limited view the companions had - shutters largely blocking the view but shapes could be seen moving outside. It had quickly been apparent that if they had remained outside, or even had attempted to retreat along the track that they would have been overrun.

After a little while, it also became apparent that the horde of were creatures were headed southwards.

  
  


Luris edged close to the shutters and watched the movements.

  
  


“They’ve mentioned that they seek to take Brethir. What if this is the push? The day before the Blood Moon would make sense.”

  
  


“But without the cure, lad, what are we to do? It could take years to track down this Johann.”

  
  


“And you all don’t have that long.” Luris did not meet the eyes of his companions.

  
  


“Wait,” Thazak interjected, opening his eyes after a period of meditation. “That burgomeister - Pahir - said that he had asked the finest sages for help with his daughter. What if that included this Johann?”

  
  


“Even if it didn’t,” Sierra continued. “He knew of the cure being at the temple here so he must have something more of it.”

  
  


“So what lass? We try to sneak through all those were-things to Pahir, get the ritual notes and bring them back. Brethir would have fallen in that time.”

“Do we need to bring them back?” Luris asked. “Luthor, is the temple a requirement for the ritual, or was it just where the items were being held?”

  
  


The old priest thought for a moment,”I mean, I honestly don’t know.”

  
  


Lidgnut was sitting up by now. “Then if we got the items from the temple then went to this Pahir …”

  
  


Thazak completed the thought “... then if he has the ritual process, we could do it then and there.”

  
  


Luris looked over. “We have experience of completing rituals in the nick of time,” and all but Dyblyg recalled the encounter with the Water Rift.

  
  


Everyone had perked up by now.

  
  


“Luthor,” Sierra asked. “What items are required for this cure?”

  
  


“That I do know. And all can be claimed within the temple bar one. You require a feather from an angel, a gem and means to break it and a vial of a specially brewed liquid.”

  
  


“All of which would be tricky to source in any case,” Lidgnut mused. “And the last?”

  
  


“The blood of someone infected by the Spirit of Lycanthropy given before the first full moon of their change,”

  
  


“The daughter!” Sabroth exclaimed.

  
  


“Most of the people in this room,” Luris added, a little apologetically.

  
  


“Might as well be useful for something then, eh lad?” Lidgnut rose to his feet. “So what’s the plan? Grab the stuff and hurry for the burgo’s place?”

  
  


“Think that’s all we have as an option at this point.”

  
  


“Right then. No time to dally. You -” Here Lidgnut pointed at Luthor ”-can you get us inside the temple?”

  
  


“I can certainly escort you there.” The hope on his face seemed unsure - as if it wasn’t certain what it was doing there and Luris idly wondered how long Luthor had been here.

  
  


Thazak too was now by the shutters peering out. “The numbers seem much diminished outside. I think we can risk headed to the temple - it seemed the opposite way to where they were all headed.”

For a party of people who just an hour ago were on the brink of defeat, there was a marked change.

They gave it several long minutes before they chanced opening the door, Luris taking the time to clean and repack his utensils and for all of them to check their weapons. Luthor shrank a little as he regarded the silvered and magic weapons they drew.

Thazak was the first out, then Sierra, mounting her broom almost immediately. The rest followed them, Luthor resealing the wards behind them before his form switched into the bear hybrid they had first witnessed him as.

Headed through the dilapidated houses that once had been home to the good citizens of Crocha, they could see the temple ahead of them. The building was obviously neglected but it stood proud still above the town it had once served.

Luris' gaze was drawn towards movement before them - a pair of wereboars turned a corner before them. He tensed as they hurried towards them then they ducked into a side road. As the companions passed the road, checking carefully, they could see the wereboars at the far end, meeting up with a wererat. None of the three seemed keen to engage the party, and they continued to move in their separate directions.

As the party moved up through the houses, they became aware that the temple was positioned a little north of the buildings. Entrances to the mines below were set into the rocky walls of the valley that closed in at this point and Lidgnut mentioned that the temple was likely set to be the first thing that miners would see as they exited.

More pertinent to the group however, was the graveyard set between the last few buildings and the temple.

They were already swinging wide of the low fence that surrounded the graves when movement caught their eye. 

Sierra took off over the graves, her hand crossbow already lining up to target the pallid figures, waxy skin taut across their features that were snarling in silent howls. Three of the figures seemed to have bows, one headed to a gate to the side and ahead of the group as it approached the south-eastern corner; one to another gate in the southern fence and one directly towards them. Behind them, a taller but no less emancipated figure gestured with a pockmarked longsword.

Luris had the longbow in his hand and loosened off a couple of shots; one going wild and the second clanging into a tombstone next to one of the figures.

  
  


“I presume those are undead?” Dyblyg growled. 

  
  


“Very much so.” Lidgnut growled in response, taking a hold of the holy symbol around his neck and striding forward.

“The Allhammer commands you all to flee.”

  
  


Luris could see what looked like a faint wave of power bursting out from the dwarf. However, the undead figures seemed largely unfazed, only the one near to Luris and Dyblyg as they headed towards the eastern side of the graveyard seemed to show any kind of response.

Thazak and Sabroth charged the southernmost assailant. Sabroth swung against the undead creature that somehow had managed to drop the bow and also had a sword. It reached for Sabroth, black energy crackling around a bare, not quite skeletal hand and the aasimar kicked it back before it could make contact, slashing into it.

Thazak ran by, leaping to smack his fist into the side of it’s head, causing it to stagger into the gate. He continued past as Sabroth pushed in and caught the apparent leader, fists slamming in a series of punishing blows.

Dyblyg paused for a moment and his echo appeared by the remaining undead creature. As Luris ignored the one that was turning towards the nearest mine, he tried not to get distracted by the echo hovering in the air above the undead, Dyblygs bronze form flicking as he engaged it from the elevated height. It staggered from a broad swipe and dropped the bow.

Sierra wheeled in the air, splitting her fire between the lead undead as Thazak drove it’s head into a nearby pillar, causing it to stumble before her first bolt pierced its skull and it dropped; then a second shot against the one that Luris was now closing on.  _ Scalesplitter  _ drove into its midriff and Luris followed up with a series of elbow and knee blows.

Despite the weapon through it, it brought its empty hand swiftly against Luris’ chest and there was a flash of black in his vision. He gasped, falling back, yanking the spear with him as he felt his life essence drain slightly from the foul touch.

He saw Sabroth bat away the same attack from the one before him as he skewered it on his weapon, the lifeless body falling slowly to the ground.

Lidgnut was chanting again and the undead thing before Luris looked at the dwarf in what could only be fear before it too began to lurch towards the mine, following its fellow creature.

Dyblyg held back a lunge as it passed close to him, aware that Lidgnut’s power could be affected, though it seemed almost harder for him to not follow his urge to attack.

“Everyone okay?” Lidgnut asked, now headed through the graves with the apparent threat dealt with.

  
  


“Sure we are okay just leaving them?” Dyblyg asked, watching them go, knuckles tight on the hand that held his sword.

  
  


“Problem for later, lad. We need the ritual parts now.”

  
  


Luris was surprised that he couldn’t see a print of the hand burning against his chest but the wounds that Sabroth and Thazak had taken in the fray were of little note and they pressed on towards their goal.

Up close to this temple, Luris could see that it had been blessed for most, if not all of the Prime Deities of Exandria. He could see symbols of the Everlight, The Lawbringer, the Dawnfather and the Platinum Dragon, the Changebringer and the Allhammer.

Luthor, having kept an eye on the town as they fought in the graveyard, slowed as they approached the dual doors to the southern edge of the temple.

  
  


“I can not enter this hallowed place, but I shall keep watch on the outside and call should anything approach”

  
  


Luris nodded and he and Thazak were the first to enter.

  
  


From the late afternoon of ruined Crocha, there was a noticeable change in the quality of the air as they passed the threshold. Luris fancied the temperature was a little cooler and everything seemed a little crisper and brighter. The doors, hinged into ornately carved pillars, creaked loudly as the doors swung into a short but wide area that opened into the temple proper.

The stones were smooth and the joints worked into the design.

  
  


“Feels like Dwarven stonework this,” Lidgnut said approvingly behind him.

  
  


As they moved into the space proper, they became aware of a shimmering towards the northern end of the temple. An altar stood on a raised dais at the far end, light from candles catching metal lattice work embedded into the stone work.

Standing behind the altar, gaze fixed on a stained glass representation of the Prime Pantheon stood a single figure. 

The wings were the most obvious point of interest, folded at ease and shimmering white, a counterpoint to the figure's silvery, radiant hair.

As the monks’ footsteps echoed the figure bowed their head and turned. Humanoid, female, form partly covered in a gold threaded tunic only a little paler than their golden-hued skin. They stood as tall as Luris, though stood much more supple and lithe.

“You come for the cure.” The figure intoned, “Show me your worth.”

The angelic figure brandished a curiously headed mace, flanges of a golden metal holding a sun. The wings spread out wide, gleaming.

“We mean no harm,” Thazak lifted his symbol of the Everlight and continuing to walk towards the angelic being. “We seek only the cure to the lycanthropy that threatens this area.”

There was no warning when the figure just suddenly was flying through the air towards them, mace poised to strike, face impassive.

Thazak remained still and the angel passed straight past him. He did not react.

Luris stared as the golden figure bore down on him, mace swinging. He do not move and the mace swung past his nose. He could sense Sierra pushing off into the air; could feel Dyblyg tense to strike as the mace reached the end of the swing and the angel reversed the strike.

  
  


Knowing his symbol to the Changebringer was clearly visible, Luris regarded the angel calmly. “We seek no harm to you in this place. We need only that required for the ritual.”

The mace stopped abruptly right by his ear; he could feel the displaced air waft across his face. The angel ‘s amber eyes regarded him intently.

Luris bowed his head then serenely moved around the angel, headed to join Thazak. Dyblyg hissed and Sierra had the crossbow steady. But without seeing, Luris could sense the approving nod from Lidgnut, the awe washing from Sabroth as he beheld one who his own legacy came from.

  
  


“Thus your worth is shown.”

  
  


The angel did not smile, though Luris fancied there was just a hint of a playful tone to her voice as she relaxed.

  
  


“You have come for the components for the ritual,” as she brought one wing in front of herself and plucked a single feather. Lidgnut accepted it, bowing low. The angel rested a hand on Sabroth and Luris caught the gleam of divine energy healing the wound from the fight against the undead outside. She calmly walked towards the altar, passing the monks who both stepped back to let her pass. He hand drifted across Thazak and there was another shimmer of divine energy; she glanced to Luris as if to use her healing touch but then shook her head once, ever so slightly.

Arriving at the altar, she reached behind to reveal a cloth wrapped bundle. Turning she held it out and Luris took it from her in both hands.

  
  


“You must travel swift. The one who holds the information you seek will soon be endangered. You do not have much time.”

As she spoke, she rested the pommel of the mace on the altar and it began to glow, brighter and brighter. Luris was just aware that she regarded each of them in turn before the light grew too bright and he had to cover his eyes.

The light was piercing, even as he shielded his face then it faded. They all removed hands as they blinked rapidly. The angel had gone.

Luris knelt and held the cloth bundle out, as Lidgnut stepped up and unwrapped it.

There was a blood red gem, the size of a human fist, a silvery rock hammer, a vial of a green liquid that seemed to sparkle a little and a vellum scroll.

“We have what we came here for,” Lidgnut said, maybe a little too gruffly in the still air. “Now we just need to find the ritual part we need. And the luck to get back to Brethir before it’s too late.”


End file.
